Consequences
by Ash135
Summary: sequel to remember. M/A ch20
1. Chapter1

It had rained for twelve hours straight. He could no longer hear anything but the rain drumming on the roof, and coming through the roof, onto the floor. Storm sat on the floor of Alec's bedroom, leaning back against the bed. In his hand he held a can of beer, which he sipped almost mechanically, his eyes firmly focussed on the rain falling through Alec's skylight and onto the floor. It must not have rained since the ceiling had caved in, because Storm was getting pretty wet just sitting by the bed. He doubted that Alec would have put up with rain falling on his bed while he slept. He finished the beer, and tossed the can through the hole in the wall, and into the living-room, which was also getting rather wet by now. Without looking, he moved his hand across the floor, until it touched the rest of his 6-pack. He grabbed one, popped the tab and drunk deeply.  
  
The rain was kind of interesting, the way it fell to the ground. His only problem with it was the way in which it puddled on the ground. In the near darkness the water looked dark, the same colour that blood looked in the dark. He kept drinking.  
  
Mole walked slowly across the room and took a seat next to Max. she had her eyes closed, and he made no sound. If she had finally gotten to sleep, the last thing he wanted to do was wake her up.  
  
"Neil send you?" she asked, and he glanced at her quickly. her eyes were still closed.  
  
"No. thought you could use a friend." Max opened her eyes at that, and looked up at him.  
  
"Alec was your friend, huh?" she asked him. he nodded, pulling out a cigar and biting on it nervously.  
  
"He IS my friend." Mole corrected her, putting his hand under her chin and lifting it up so that he could look her straight in the eye. "Don't tempt fate, Max. You know how strong Alec is."  
  
"Sometimes, I feel like, I don't really know him at all." She told him.  
  
Mole nodded. "He lets you see what he wants you to see." He told her. "And sometimes, that's not such a bad thing."  
  
"What was he like at Manticore? Did you know him?"  
  
"like he is now. Always had a scam going, always planning ahead. He used to drive the Psy Obs guys insane, they couldn't predict what he was going to do, because he was always 5 steps ahead of them." Mole looked down, finally lighting his cigar. "He never used to smile though. And to answer your question, no. I didn't know him. I just listened when the staff talked about him. we all did, all us freaks. The Xs, you guys were going to get to go out into the world, interact with humans. We were just techs. We lived vicariously through them, I guess."  
  
"I was making fun of him"  
  
"Huh?" Mole asked, confused by the sudden change in conversation topic. "The last thing I said to him, I was hassling him for taking his time, leaving all the work to me."  
  
"why should that conversation be any different from the others you have?" Mole asked her. "Face it, Max. that's what you do, and you both love it. He wouldn't have read anything into it, apart from that."  
  
"There was so much blood"  
  
"I know" Mole had had to listen helplessly from HQ as Alec had screamed, too far away to do anything. he had heard one-sided conversations, that he didn't understand, but that he knew were really bad. And he had heard Max cry out, and beg Alec to wake up, talk to her, anything. He had watched as they returned to TC, and Alec had been rushed into the makeshift hospital. Mole had had to look twice, to confirm that it was Alec, his face was almost completely covered in blood. Dix had stood there, completely motionless, not breathing. Then he had turned away, gone straight into his room and slammed the door. Mole hadn't seen him since.  
  
  
  
Storm finished his can and swore, realising it was his last one. He still wasn't drunk, could still see the look on Shay's face as he nodded to him, telling him to stay as he went to join Max. Damnit. He stood up, pitching his can out of Alec's skylight, and leaving the apartment, going in search of something a lot harder to drink.  
  
The bar was packed, even though it was only mid afternoon. There was a really strange atmosphere, transgenics not knowing whether to celebrate, or mourn. They kind of did both. Storm couldn't fault them for that. The immediate Familiar threat was over, they had got the poison, and as a bonus, all of the scientists, bar one, were dead. And the one left alive would not be making more poison in a hurry. He was in the custody of twenty pretty pissed off transgenics, who were awaiting orders. They were alive, and that was a reason to celebrate. But, not everyone was that lucky. Alec was lying in the hospital, in about his tenth straight hour of surgery to repair the damage caused by being hit with three bullets, and whatever else. Shay and Tim were missing, not classified as KIA, their bodies not found in the tunnel. Between them, Mole and Dix had organised a squad of some 40 transgenics to scour the area around the hill, going as close as they could safely go, to try to find any evidence of where they might have been taken. But so far, nothing.  
  
Storm took a seat at the bar, and gestured to the albino barkeep. "What you after?" "Scotch. Double." The beer just wasn't strong enough.  
  
"Any word on Alec?" the albino asked him, and the noise level in the bar dropped away. Everyone seemed to be listening for an answer. "Don't know." Storm knocked his drink back quickly and stood up. "Thanks" He headed back out onto the street, not being able to stand the looks he was getting from the others, probably wondering why the hell he had made it back and not Alec. He started walking, then running, trying anything to forget the past few days. He ran harder, stumbling slightly on the wet pavement and falling to his knees. Picking himself up, he realised that he was just around the corner from the hospital. Fine. He walked inside, and stood just inside the entrance. He could see Max and Mole, sitting against a wall, talking quietly. Storm watched them for a minute, trying to decide whether to go over and join them. Then he shrugged, and crossed the room. Max could hit him if he wanted to. She didn't. She looked up as he approached, and smiled weakly, before turning to stare in the direction of the operating room.  
  
"Any word?" Storm asked quietly, taking a seat on the floor beside them. "No" he sighed, and joined Max staring at the door.  
  
Neil checked the IV one more time, then sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. He had done all he could. The bullets had done a lot of damage, a dangerous amount, even for a transgenic. He shook his head, and headed outside. Max was on her feet in an instant, moving towards him "Tell me" she asked quickly.  
  
"We've done all we could, repaired as much of the damage as we were able to. He's lost a lot of blood, we're replacing it as quickly as we can."  
  
"But he's."'  
  
"Yeah, he's alive."  
  
Max smiled, her whole face lighting up as she hugged Neil. "Can I go in?"  
  
"Just don't yell at him, okay?" Neil told her, grinning at the relief on her face. "No yelling until he can yell back, okay?"  
  
she nodded, moving quickly towards the door. Neil turned to look at Mole. "Listen, I don't know how good your contacts are, but there's some stuff we're going to need. Bandages, medication, IV lines, that kind of thing"  
  
"Name it." Mole told him. "We'll get it."  
  
Max walked into the room slowly, trying not to make any noise. There were three transgenics in the room, two females, and a possibly male green skinned transgenic. She nodded to them, and sat down by the bed. Alec looked horrible. They had cleaned the blood off his face, but his skin was so pale, as if the lost blood had taken all the colour from him. his upper chest was covered in bandages, already starting to stain with blood. She reached down and put her hand over his, gently stroking it, as she watched his face, praying to see any kind of response from him. none came. She lowered her head to rest on the bed beside his hand, and closed her eyes, listening to the reassuring beep of the heart monitor. Her hand tightened her grip on his. 


	2. chapter 2

the nurse walked softly over to Alec, more concerned about waking Max up than him. She was in the same position she had been in for the last couple of hours, sitting on a chair, her head resting on the bed beside Alec, her hand on his. The nurse shook her head, momentarily wishing that she had someone in her life, some guy who would sit by her bedside if she got hurt. she gently touched Alec's cheek, to check his temperature. His skin felt hot, but not as bad as it had been earlier. The medical supplies they had acquired were useful, but random. They had IV's, blood transfusion kits, but no thermometers. Overall though, she would rather improvise a thermometer than a transfusion kit. Her gaze moved down to Alec's chest, noting the bloodstained bandage, and considering briefly whether to change it. She decided against it. Doing that would just cause him more pain, and despite his high threshold for pain, that was something that she didn't really want to do. She moved around the bed, and touched Max on the shoulder. Max jerked awake instantly. "Sorry" the nurse whispered. "I just need to check his IV." Max nodded, her eyes moving back to his face, checking for any sign of movement.  
  
"He's still out" the nurse told her. "Neil loaded him with a lot of painkillers, and the IV is pumping more into him. we need to keep him asleep for now, give his body time to heal." She nodded, touching Alec on his uninjured shoulder gently, the closest she could come to doing what she really wanted to do- wrap her arms around him and pull his body down on top of hers.  
  
Alec groaned, and they both looked over to him. his breathing quickened, and he moved his head to one side. "Alec?" Max asked quickly, even as the nurse moved to the other side of the bed. She gently put her hands on either side of Alec's head, holding him in place. He groaned again. "Max, I need you to go find Neil, okay?"  
  
"Why? What's wrong?" the nurse ignored her, keeping one hand on Alec's neck as she reached for a syringe with the other.  
  
Max touched Alec's hand briefly, then turned away from him. Neil was sitting on the floor, talking quietly to Mole. Storm was staring at a wall. When she opened the door, they all looked up. Neil was on his feet instantly, seeing the look on her face, and he disappeared into the room.  
  
"What happened?" Mole asked. Storm stood up and left the building. "I don't know." she sat down beside him, sighing. The room was white. Completely and utterly white. It had hurt his eyes at first, but now it seemed his senses had been dulled by it. It was now just normal. He looked down. He liked looking at his hands. They were different colours, different shades of white. Tanned, and slightly dark in some places, where bruising was beginning to show. And when he clenched his fists, then opened them, a little bit of white in the room went away. He closed his eyes and the white blazed through his eyelids. Pain jolted into his body, and he doubled over, collapsing onto the ground, breathing hard. Fine. He got the picture. They didn't like it when he closed his eyes. He would keep them open, if he could.  
  
He let his mind drift, remembering colours. The parking lot, for one. It was grey, but there were bits of green around, tufts of grass. There was a car too, at one side of the lot. Broken glass, a nice clear colour. The car was red, a deep red. NO. not that colour. Any colour was better than that one. He didn't like it. He focussed his eyes, concentrating on the whiteness, allowing it to take over his vision.  
  
A door opened, and a man dressed in black entered. He jerked away from the man, not liking the dark colour. It was too different from what he was used to. The man walked into the room and stared at him. "Enjoying your accommodation?" the man asked. He jerked away, the voice tearing through him.  
  
The man laughed, and left the room, turning back once to see the boy huddled in one corner. This was going to be so much fun.  
  
  
  
Alec groaned again, and tried to move. Something stopped him, a weight on his chest, and he raised his hand to shove it aside. His hand wouldn't move either. Sighing, and feeling like he was in some kind of weird dream, he forced his eyes open on the theory that if he could wake up, he could move again. "Take it easy" it was a voice he recognised, and he struggled to get his eyes to focus. They wouldn't, and he jerked his head to one side in frustration. He had played that game already, being blind. He had done that. He didn't want to do this again.  
  
"Alec, relax. Open your eyes slowly."  
  
"Neil?" he muttered, finally recognising the person in front of him. his voice, however, was unrecognisable to him. it sounded strange, rough, and he forced himself to swallow, before trying again.  
  
"If you keep pushing yourself, I am going to sedate you again. Now, Max will probably be pissed at me, but I think she'll probably be more pissed at you. That's the way it tends to work, right?"  
  
Max? Alec relaxed instantly. Then she was okay. He couldn't remember. Thank God, the mission must have succeeded. He breathed slowly, then opened his eyes again.  
  
"Good" Neil commented.  
  
"Max?" he whispered.  
  
"She's outside. I'll get her in a second. Headache?"  
  
"Yeah" Alec admitted. He could have lied, but it was just too much of a hassle. And, Neil would know anyway. He may as well start picking his battles.  
  
"Okay, this should help." Alec felt a small prick in his neck, and he tensed against it, then relaxed.  
  
"Good boy" Neil commented, walking away  
  
"Max" Neil spoke softly. She looked up, her face expressionless. "He's okay" he spoke quickly, and laughed as her face lit up in a relieved smile. "He's awake." Her grin grew wider, and she stood up.  
  
"Same rules, Max. no yelling. And keep it short."  
  
Ames White sat in his office, a file opened in front of him. His mind somewhere else, he skimmed the material on DNA sequencing. It would have been fascinating if his mind was not somewhere else. It would probably be a lot more interesting tomorrow. He threw the file across the room and stood up, walking out of the room and down a corridor. He knocked lightly on a door, and opened it. Ray stood by a window, staring out it at the Seattle skyline.  
  
"Hey, big man." White greeted him, and Ray turned around to see his father. He walked over to his bed, and sat down, looking up at him. White moved over to sit beside him, turning slightly to face his son. "The doctors say you're going to be fine, that you weren't hurt at all" Ray shrugged. "I told you I was okay."  
  
"Ray, son, I need to talk to you about something, okay? I need you to listen to me carefully, and answer my questions. Can you do that?" White reached out and put his arm around Ray. Ray looked back at him. he wasn't an idiot, and it was a long time since he had been treated like one. He didn't like it. White took his silence as an agreement.  
  
"I need to know why you were at the ceremony. What made you go there?"  
  
"Alec said we had to" Ray responded carefully.  
  
"Why did he say that?"  
  
Because he had a dream. Because they all had had dreams. Because they knew that that was where they were meant to be. 'I don't know. he just told us to go"  
  
White looked at him. it made no sense. He tried a different approach. "Why did he tell you to go? You and another young kid. Why did he want the two of you to go?"  
  
"He never said. He told us to go, and we went. And the other kid's name, it's Tim."  
  
"He just told you to go? Alec, not Max?" he asked, stumbling over the names. 494 and 452 were more familiar to him.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"He do that a lot? Tell people to do stuff?"  
  
"Yeah. And they always do it."  
  
  
  
"Hey" she spoke softly as she entered the room. Alec slowly moved his head in her direction. She saw his lips move, as if he was saying something, but she couldn't hear a word he said. It didn't matter, it was enough that he was awake. She sat down beside the bed again, and took his hand lightly.  
  
"How are you?" she whispered He grinned, then winced in pain. "Is everyone okay?" he whispered, struggling for breath  
  
Max squeezed his hand tighter "Yeah" she lied easily. Alec looked at her for a second, then closed his eyes. "Christ" he commented, knowing that she was lying to him 


	3. chapter 3

Alec turned his face away from her, trying to control himself. Something had gone wrong. Had they failed? Had one of them. He felt Max grip his hand harder, and he took a deep breath.  
  
"Tell me" he asked, turning to face her again, wincing slightly at the pain the movement caused him. Max noticed, and bit her lip. "Later" she told him gently, leaning over to kiss his cheek. He jerked back. "Don't" he told her, his voice hard. It was Max's turn to move back. That expression on his face worried her. Something was wrong. Maybe it was the medication, something wrong with the pain relief that Neil had told her was working. She moved to leave, meaning to go get him, see what he could do to help.  
  
"Max" Alec whispered. She stopped, and turned towards him. "You asked me. not to turn away from you" he gasped, raising his head off the pillow. She moved forward quickly, putting her hand on his chest to push him back onto the bed. "Like Logan did. I have done, I'm sorry" he closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on his breathing. "We can do this later" Max told him, running her hand down his face. "And I asked you, not to treat me like Logan. Not to hide stuff from me." His eyes stared into hers until she looked down. "Max, tell me what happened, or get out"  
  
She took a deep breath, then another. Finally, she spoke quietly. "They captured Shay, and Tim"  
  
Alec bit his lip, forcing his head back against the pillow, and squeezing his eyes shut. No. how had it gone so wrong? So completely wrong. Both of them? But how? He started to breath harder as he struggled to remember. Tim had been with him. He had tried to get to the guard, but had fallen. Tim had taken him down though, he remembered that. It was a good shot. That guard wasn't going to be in a position to do anything.  
  
"Alec calm down" Max told him. "Neil!" she screamed in the direction of the door. He was in the room in less than 5 seconds. "I told you not to yell at him." he commented, moving quickly across to the bed and putting his hand on Alec's forehead. Alec tried to move away.  
  
"I didn't yell at him" she told him.  
  
"Alec, talk to me" Neil told him.  
  
"I'm fine. Just leave me alone for a minute" he replied. Neil shook his head. "Not until you get that heart rate down. Max?"  
  
"I'm staying." She said firmly.  
  
"Wait outside" Neil told her just as firmly, and kept staring at her until she backed down. He turned his attention to the heart monitor they had hooked up, and watched as the number of beats per second slowed down visibly.  
  
"How did you do that? No, forget it. I don't want to know."  
  
  
  
"Sir? What do you want us to do?" a man in a suit stood in the entrance to White's office, not feeling comfortable enough to enter the room without permission. White looked up from the file he was reading, and stared at the man for a minute. The man took a step back, moving further from the room. "Carry out the plan." White went back to reading his file, effectively dismissing the man.  
  
When he had gone, White sighed, and closed the file, again. There was something wrong with his son. 494 had clearly done something to him, to make Ray hesitate before taking his hand in the tunnel. According to his file, 494 had no Psy skills personally. He must have gotten hold of a psy ops transgenic, and got it to hypnotise his son, try to convert him to their side. but why? From the look on 494's face when they had crossed paths, it had been unexpected on both sides. Why would they kidnap his son in the first place, take him from the school, then go to all this trouble? Surely there had to be something more to it than just getting revenge on him for all the trouble he had caused them? He had no idea. They had psychiatrists on staff too, Familiar psychs, and one of them was talking to Ray right now, trying to figure out what was wrong with his son.  
  
And if they had hurt Ray in any way, then they would truly understand what it meant to have his full and undivided attention on making their lives hell.  
  
  
  
Alec heard them both leave, and clenched his fist. This was his fault. All his fault. He had let Shay go on the mission, even though he wasn't one of the chosen ones. And Tim? A little kid. He had forced a young boy to take part. What the hell was the point? To save the humans? God, Fuck them. Who cared? Okay, there were a few worth saving, OC, Sketchy, Normal, but as for the rest, those that were standing outside of the perimeter fence, the ones who had killed Biggs, why save them? As for his own kind, they could have found a cure. They had a starting place, he was immune, so were the others. It didn't need to happen.  
  
"Time's up" Neil spoke as he re-entered the room, and looked at his patient. Alec looked bad, his face ashen, his whole body tense. The wound on his chest must have re-opened, the bandage was slowly turning red. He sighed. "Okay, I'm going to sedate you again. You need to rest, and you're obviously not doing that. Alec, as a friend, I'll tell you this: You're an idiot"  
  
Alec looked at him "What?"  
  
"You're an idiot."  
  
"Thanks." Alec shook his head, trying to figure it out. He couldn't.  
  
Mole looked around HQ. There were literally dozens of transgenics milling around, waiting for something to be done. He didn't like the look of that. Bored transgenics could only lead to trouble. They needed to find something for them to do, and fast, before one of them came up with an idea of his own. He wasn't a leader, though. He had no idea what was needed. Max was the one that would know what to do, or Alec, and neither of them were up to doing anything right now.  
  
He pushed through the crowd and entered the backroom, where Dix was messing around on his computer. Dix didn't bother to look up  
  
"Good morning" Mole commented pointedly.  
  
"Sorry, what did you need?" Dix looked up finally, and grinned weakly.  
  
"there's a mob forming outside."  
  
"I know." Dix shut his laptop. "They asked me for assignments. Me. I don't know what to tell them."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
"So, how long do you think it will take before they start fighting amongst themselves for something to do?" Dix asked, reaching for one of Mole's cigars.  
  
"A day." Mole suggested drily.  
  
"You need to talk to Max. get her to start organising them."  
  
That was pretty much what Mole himself had thought, but he had a problem with the fact that he was to be the one to talk to Max. a big problem. He had a mental image of Max throwing him across the room and through a window.  
  



	4. chapter 4

"I can sedate you too, if you want" Neil crouched down in front of Max, and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I'm not doing anything" she told him, defensively.  
  
"Alec's not the only one that needs rest. go away, sleep for however long is usual for you."  
  
"I'm fine"  
  
"And as you leave" Neil continued, as if she hadn't spoken, "take a look around. see all of the transgenics out on the streets, the way they look to you for guidance. Max, I know that you're hurting, but so is everyone else in TC. They need a leader, thought they had one, but now." Neil watched her closely. Had he said too much? Pushed too hard? There were certain things that Max needed to be told, and someone had to have the guts to stand up to her and tell her, but if he went too far.  
  
  
  
An arm came around his neck, and Shay tried to spin out of it, get away. He was too slow, his captor had already anticipated the move, and dropped his shoulder so Shay couldn't break free. "Stop struggling" came a voice. Shay struggled harder for a moment, then gave up. It was getting him nowhere. His captor had a hell of a lot of weight on him, not to mention height. He was getting nowhere. The best thing he could do would be to wait, and make his move at a better time.  
  
"Good kid. And I thought transgenics were all stupid" Shay bristled, but said nothing. His time would come.  
  
"We're going for a walk, kid. Don't try anything stupid" the familiar shoved him towards the door, and Shay stumbled, but kept his feet. He heard the click of a gun from behind him, a round being chambered.  
  
"I'm not supposed to kill you, not before the enclave gets the information they need, but I think as long as you can talk, I can hurt you a bit. Run, if you want, I think I'd like the target practice. Move."  
  
Shay moved forward, towards the door. As he stepped through it, the familiar moved closer to him, holding the gun so that it almost touched the back of Shay's head. With his other hand, he shoved him forward.  
  
Shay followed his directions, his mind elsewhere. He was remembering Alec's lessons in the parking lot, trying to remember the things he had done to get past Alec's defences. The guard was a lot bigger than him, but then Alec was too. If he planned his attack right, he may have a shot, even though the guard carried a gun. If he could get low enough, attack below the guards centre of gravity, it might just work. If not, he was going to die anyway. He would chose to die, rather than betray his friends, his family. The guard pushed him again, and he stumbled, going down to the floor. the guard leant down to grab him by the collar, pull him up. Shay rose to his feet, slamming his elbow into the guys jaw, sending him flying back. The gun went spinning down the corridor, and Shay dove for it, grabbing it and spinning back to face the guy. He raised the gun. "We're not all stupid" he commented. The guard laughed. "You wont get away, you know. there are more of us."  
  
"Yeah, but I was trained by people better than you" Shay looked up and down the corridor, looking for a way out. There was a window a few feet away, that would do.  
  
"Freaks, you mean" the guard taunted.  
  
"Fine, freaks, I don't care. I'm not ashamed of who I am." he backed away from the guard, the gun still trained on him, until he reached the window. With his elbow, he smashed the glass. Still watching the guard, he couldn't resist one last comment. "consider this, 6 of us, 4 'Freak' kids, just kicked your phalanxes ass. That should concern you, unless you're too stupid to understand the consequences of that"  
  
  
  
Alec woke slowly, and looked around. there were two nurses, doing something on the other side of the room. he moved his head slowly from one side to the other. Didn't hurt too badly. He sat up slowly, one hand pressed to his chest, over the bandages, putting pressure on the wound. The movement caught the attention of one of the nurses, who turned quickly.  
  
"You're not supposed to be doing that" she commented, moving over to him. "I'm okay" he told her, smiling. The nurse smiled back. The guy was definitely hot when he smiled.  
  
"You should be resting" she told him. "Neil won't be happy if you get hurt again."  
  
"Neil's never happy with me" he told her, shaking his head. "He'll get over it, always has before"  
  
"I'm not worried about you" she told him. "You took on a Familiar phalanx, I think you can take care of yourself. It's me I'm worried about."  
  
"How's that?" Alec sat up slowly, grimacing.  
  
"Neil said 'if you let that idiot get up and walk around, you'll regret it'" she hesitated on the word 'idiot' and Alec caught it "He really called me an idiot?" he asked, pulling the IV needle out of his hand.  
  
"Not exactly" she reached for his hand, and gently detached the needle.  
  
"Thanks" he told her. "So, what did he call me?"  
  
"Stupid Bastard, I think" Alec laughed. "Sounds about right. I'll have to go talk to him about that."  
  
"Not now, though, right? You need to rest still"  
  
"I'm fine" he told her, moving to stand slowly.  
  
"Well, this should be interesting" Neil commented from the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"Huh?" Alec commented, as both him and the nurse looked up.  
  
"Carry on" Neil told him. "You were going to stand up, right? Try to leave? Please, carry on" Alec looked at him, shrugged, and stood up. And fell, grabbing the bed to support himself. The nurse grabbed him around the waist.  
  
"Do I need to say anything? I could give you this nice long speech about not pushing yourself, about how three gunshot wounds and a trashed knee are not a combination you can get over in a few days? Or do you get the point?"  
  
"Shut up" Alec growled, sitting on the edge of the bed  
  
"When you're ready to try again, can you do me a favour and tell me? It's always fun being right, especially when it means you're wrong" sarcasm dripped from his voice as he left the room.  
  
"Why do you talk to him like that?" the second nurse followed him out the door. "He's been through so much, why treat him like that?"  
  
"Should I hold his hand?" Neil asked sarcastically  
  
"Look, you may not like him, but he is hurt. and he was doing a good thing when he got hurt. that makes him a hero, and it should cut him some slack with you" she glared at him.  
  
"You think I don't like him?" Neil asked. Her expression didn't change. "I consider Alec a friend. In fact, I'm proud to call him that. Am I right in assuming that you don't know him?" she nodded. "I knew Alec back in Manticore. Worked with him on some missions. Got to know him pretty well since then, too. The one thing I know about Alec? Compassion won't cut it. Holding his hand? He'll probably break it for you."  
  
"So you yell at him? challenge him to do stuff that he shouldn't be doing?"  
  
"Its what he knows. He's comfortable with it, used to it."  
  
  
  
Storm walked into Alec's apartment, and stopped dead. Max lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. She heard him come in, and jerked up into a sitting position.  
  
"Sorry" he told her. She shrugged. "What's going on?" she asked him, sitting up.  
  
"Nothing. I just, I don't know." Max nodded. "Things went wrong on the mission" she prompted him, thinking that she recognised that look on his face. Storm nodded, and sank to the floor, leaning back against the wall. "I left them" he whispered. "Alec, Shay and Tim. They were all there, the Familiar was down, I told Shay to stay with Alec, and followed the tunnel to find you. I should have stayed there"  
  
"Storm" Max moved over to sit beside him on the floor. "You did what was necessary. I would have done the same thing"  
  
"Really?" he looked hopefully at her. "Yeah, we all would have. Look, I don't know what happened after you left them. But I know this, we will find out. Okay? We'll figure it out, track down every Familiar stronghold in the country if we have to."  
  
"What if they're. dead?"  
  
"Don't think so. If they wanted them dead, they'd have killed them in the tunnel, right? They want them for some reason. That means we have some time."  
  
Storm nodded. "He was my best friend. Shay, I mean. My brother." 


	5. chapter 5

Rant: too much drama? Hmm, what would you like then? Gratuitous sex is now out, apparently, under threat of removal of story from this site. All that's left is drama, action or angst ( Name your poison.  
  
  
  
Alec sat on the edge of the bed, his sensitive hearing picking up Neil's words. Was he used to being challenged? It kind of disturbed him that others knew him well enough to understand how to get at him psychologically. They had done that at Manticore so many times, preyed on his weaknesses, forcing him to believe that he wanted to do something, when he really didn't. he had hoped that he had left that behind him when he had left Manticore. Yet Neil was pulling the same stuff on him. he felt uneasy, even slightly scared that people could control him still. It wasn't what he wanted. He rotated his shoulder slowly, checking for any pain. It felt okay. The door opened, and he looked up quickly. the nurse smiled weakly at him as she entered the room and moved across to the table she had been working at before. She didn't speak. Alec watched her for a minute, then shrugged, and went back to examining what he could do with his damaged body. The nurse turned and glanced at him, then kept her eyes on him when she realised that he wasn't taking any notice of her. She watched him move his leg, grimace in pain, then rub his knee. More than anything, she wanted to go over and talk to him, help him, do whatever he needed, just to be near him. Alec sighed, and looked over to her. "Do me a favour?" he asked her, smiling easily at her.  
  
"Depends" she said cautiously. Alec laughed. "Don't worry, nothing that'll get you in more trouble with Neil" he saw her eyes widen. She obviously had no idea that he could hear that well. Neil, however, did know that. Alec was meant to hear every word.  
  
She recovered quickly, then held his gaze, waiting for him to continue.  
  
"Do you know Mole? Kinda lizardy, always smoking cigars?" she nodded, hesitantly.  
  
"I need to see him. can you get a message to him?"  
  
"Sure" she told him, relieved that that was all he was asking.  
  
  
  
Shay sprinted across the enclosure, to a high fence. Without pausing, he leapt the fence and kept running. He had no idea where he was, or where he was going, but anywhere away from that place was a good start. He could figure the rest out later. Wherever he was, he was on the outskirts of a city, and that gave him a chance to blend in, camouflage himself. He slowed down to walking speed, trying to act casual. As casual as someone could appear who was wearing torn and dirty camo gear. He ducked into an alley, and pulled his shirt off. The colour was what was known as 'urban camouflage', varying shades of grey and black, designed for blending into shadows. The inside lining of the shirt, however, was black, and he reversed his shirt and pulled it back on. He looked slightly less military now, although not by much. He had to find a change of clothing, and soon.  
  
  
  
"You summoned, master?" Mole wandered into the room, a grin on his face to see his leader kind of up and about. Well, sitting on the edge of the bed, which was much better than lying in it, attached to a few dozen mechanical beeping things.  
  
"Talk to me"  
  
"About anything in particular? I heard this rumour yesterday. You know Rhian? Female, 6ft, panthery in appearance? Well, I heard she has this thing for Dix. She was waiting for him yesterday."  
  
"Shut up" Alec told him, shaking his head sternly, but his twinkling eyes giving away his true feelings.  
  
"Okay, fine, so you don't want to talk about sex. That puts you in the minority in TC, you know that? Of course, you're actually getting some, which also puts you in the minority."  
  
"Mole" expressionless.  
  
"State the topic then" "The mission. Shay, Tim" Mole looked down, not wanting to meet Alec's gaze. He glanced quickly at the door, and not seeing Neil outside, lit a cigar, chewing on the end of it nervously. The nurse coughed, to remind him that she was there, and that she could see him smoking.  
  
Mole looked over at her "You okay?" he asked, blowing a mouthful of smoke in her direction. "Cos, if you're sick, or something, you should leave. Alec's vulnerable, you know, you shouldn't be contaminating him with anything."  
  
she stared at him disbelievingly, then turned and walked out of the room.  
  
"Gone to get Neil" Mole commented, turning to grin at Alec.  
  
"Vulnerable?"  
  
"Sorry about that." He laughed around his cigar.  
  
"Shay and Tim?" Alec reminded him Mole nodded. "Yeah, okay. I can't tell you much. everyone was basically on radio silence. I heard you yell out, then Tim, then not much. just noises. A lot of static that we couldn't seem to clear up." He shook his head. "Look, Max and Storm were in the best position to hear anything. they were underground, so the static wasn't affecting them. Yet, neither of them heard anything. its like, they were there, then they weren't."  
  
"We have to find them" Alec spoke quietly, his voice full of resolve.  
  
"Of course." Mole replied, in the same tone he would have used if Alec had told him that the sky was blue. "We will"  
  
  
  
"Storm" Max spoke his name softly, and he looked up, surprised. Neither of them had said anything for about half an hour, both of them just content to sit in Alec's room, staring at the walls.  
  
"If I hear that you've been drinking again, I will punish you. Things go wrong, we figure out how to fix them, we don't try to forget they happened. It doesn't work."  
  
Storm took a deep breath and nodded. "So, what are we going to do about it?" he asked her.  
  
"First consideration in preparing for a mission?" she asked him, using the same words that had been drilled into them at Manticore.  
  
"Know your strengths" he responded.  
  
"Exactly. The familiars want a battle, they can have one. I'm sick of this messing around."  
  
"Me too." Storm told her. There was something in her face that he hadn't seen before. Pure determination, more fierce than it had been before the last mission. But also something more, something unidentifiable. Something powerful.  
  
"We start to retrain." She told him. "Everyone, all of us, even the non-combatants. The humans owe us, for the sacrifices made by Shay, Tim and Alec. Even if they don't know it. Time for us to start collecting."  
  
  
  
Shay moved into the street, trying his best to blend in, not draw attention to himself. It wasn't a place he recognised, but he didn't know Seattle all that well. He couldn't assume that they had taken him out of the city. he changed directions randomly, not having a direction in mind, just trying to keep moving until dark. He turned one corner, and noticed three policemen wearing armour gear. Sector police. Just what he needed. One of them glanced in his direction, his gaze travelling over the clothing he wore. Shay moved back slightly, in the direction he had just come from, getting ready to run if the guard kept looking at him like that. The guard looked him in the eye briefly, then turned away, taking a sector pass off a girl and examining it. Shay breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking. Whatever sector he was in, he was stuck there until dark. One good thing though, he had noticed the badge on the front of the policeman's jacket, and the word 'Seattle' on it. He wasn't that far from home. 


	6. chapter 6

Rant. ahh, comedy. Now I get it. Okay. I thought I had angst and drama covered, and action wasn't doing too badly. What is an R rating anyway? What are the limits??? ( they can touch, right G  
  
I'd love to write longer chapters, but what can I say. I'm a grad student with three part time jobs and a hectic sporting schedule. But I love reviews (  
  
  
  
Max knocked on the door and walked into the hospital room, stopping dead as she saw Alec actually lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  
  
"No marathon running?" she asked him.  
  
"Neil yelled at me" he commented, not moving.  
  
"He did. what?" Max moved over to the bed.  
  
"Well, not yell, but he laughed at me when I fell over, trying to stand up"  
  
she sighed. "When you're quite finished feeling sorry for yourself, we have some work to do."  
  
Alec rolled over onto his side and glared at her. "I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm doing what I've been told to do. Neil told me I had to rest." his expression changed to mock-hurt. then he grinned. "What work?"  
  
"I've got Storm and Mole organising the troops. We're re-training, all of us. Whatever happens, I'm through messing around. we're going after Shay, and Tim, and Ray, and we're going to get them back. Then we take down White and his inbred family."  
  
Alec stared at her. The expression on her face, it was one he had only glimpsed briefly before. And it was the one expression that had made him want to help her, risk his life for her plans, do whatever. "Is there a part in your plan for me?" he asked finally.  
  
She laughed. "Only if you can stand up right now, and walk over here" she told him, smiling slightly, fully expecting him to take up the challenge.  
  
He shook his head. "I don't think I can" he told her. Max's face dropped, and she moved over to him, sitting down beside him on the bed. "Alec?" she asked, wanting to know what was going on.  
  
"it hurts, Max. my leg, it really hurts. If you want me to run, jump, whatever, I'll do it, but." he shook his head. Max took his hand in both of hers. "I'm sorry" she whispered. "I didn't mean to push you." Alec shrugged, shifting slightly so that he was touching her. "My leg gave out" he muttered. "I couldn't get to Tim, my leg collapsed."  
  
Max tightened her grip on his hand. "I don't believe that." She told him, staring straight into his eyes. "Alec, you did everything you could. I know that, because I know you. You took three bullets, and still kept trying to help Tim. What more could we ask?"  
  
"He's a kid, Max. and a friend. I want him back."  
  
"Me too"  
  
  
  
Shay ducked through a hole in the fence, and sprinted towards cover. The sector police never looked up. So far, so good. He turned two corners at random, slowing down to a jog, then finally to a walk, trying to blend into the surroundings. It was night, well, nearly, but there were a lot of people out on the streets. He fell into step behind an old man, and followed him for a block or two, glancing over his shoulder a few times to make sure he wasn't being followed. The man entered an apartment building, and Shay walked quickly on, before ducking down an alley. The building looked pretty open, easy to break into. On the second level, there was a small open window. Shay made a quick decision.  
  
Glancing to the front of the alley, he checked for signs that anyone was coming. It was clear. He took a deep breath, and jumped, grabbing the window pane and pulling himself up and through the window. The room was dark, but his enhanced eyesight gave him limited vision. He looked around, then moved soundlessly towards the door. It didn't sound like anyone was in the apartment, but he could be mistaken, and if caught. well, it wouldn't be worth thinking about. He found himself in a hallway, with several door leading off it. This wasn't good. Too many doors through which people could suddenly appear. He ducked into the first room. there was no sound from within. He took a deep breath, and flicked on the lightswitch. It was a childs room, a rich boy's room. Shay looked around in awe at the piles of toys and games, things that had no purpose but to entertain. He had never seen anything like it. It was a room he wanted to live in. He shook his head. This wasn't his life, as much as he would have liked it to be. He moved to the wardrobe, searching for anything that might fit him. at random, he grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweater, using no criteria apart from choosing things that weren't black, or grey. Shay looked around one last time, desperately wanting something like this life. He grabbed a baseball cap off the floor. at least it would hide some of the bruises on his face.  
  
  
  
"Don't tell me you're actually taking my advice?" Neil entered the room, and smiled to see Alec still lying on the bed.  
  
Alec glared at him. "You scared that nurse, you know" he told him. "She was terrified after she came back in here."  
  
"Yeah, whatever" Neil grinned. "She got you to stay in bed, didn't she?"  
  
"Neil, I need my leg working. I need to be fit." He told him.  
  
"Yeah, no kidding" Neil sighed. "I need you the hell out of here. I remember what peace used to be like, when my nurses actually did work and not spent their time staring at you"  
  
Alec smiled slightly, shifting away from Max, in case she chose to hit him. She did, and he laughed. "Come on. I'm hurt" he told her, grabbing her hand.  
  
"You will be" she replied.  
  
Neil rolled his eyes, and put his hand on Alec's leg. "Tell me if this hurts." He began to cut the bandage from Alec's leg, trying to be gentle. Alec grimaced, but said nothing. Neil got rid of the rest of the bandage, and shook his head. Max looked over, and winced. Alec watched both of them, then struggled to sit up, wanting to see what was wrong with his leg.  
  
"Stay down" Neil told him, pushing him back down gently, before returning his attention to Alec's leg. The leg was badly bruised, and swollen. A gunshot wound was healing slowly on his thigh.  
  
"Okay, I want you to try to bend it. Take it slow."  
  
Alec forced his leg to bend at the knee, struggling slightly with the stiffness in his knee joint.  
  
"Hold it there" Neil pressed down on the side of his knee, and Alec gasped, closing his eyes briefly. He felt Max's hand grip his tighter.  
  
Neil nodded, and withdrew his hand. "It's getting better" he told Max, glancing over at Alec. "You should have heard him scream last time I did that."  
  
"Did not" Alec protested, opening his eyes. Neil laughed. "Stay off it for another day. the wounds seem to be healing pretty quickly, but I just want to make sure." Alec nodded, flexing his knee again.  
  
"Hey" Neil smacked his leg. "One day, I said. Then you can run off and play hero again." Alec nodded.  
  
  
  
Storm jumped the perimeter fence and blended into the crowd on the streets. He had been doing this a lot more, lately. Being an X series made it pretty easy, and no-one looked twice at a young boy wandering around. humans were pretty stupid sometimes. He grinned as he circled through the streets, and finally came back to a place not far from where he had started. the perimeter fence of TC. He pasted a grin on his face, acting like a kid, eager to see a transgenic freak. The crowd was larger than usual, a lot of men and boys, not much older than himself. Most of them seemed drunk, and all of them were talking, telling stories about run-ins they had had with transgenics. Storm moved closer, curiosity getting the better of him.  
  
"And this. thing. it broke into our house. Green it was, with these weird teeth, and blood red eyes. It snarled at us, and I went after it, trying to protect my family. We chased it off, but I reckon it'll be back, with more of its kind."  
  
"Yeah" another one chimed in. "we have to kill them all. None of them can be left standing."  
  
"Do they all look like that?" Storm asked, unable to resist. The men turned to look at him. "I've never seen one, not for real. Are they all green?"  
  
the first man laughed, and shook his head. "No, boy, some of them are even weirder. Some dont look even remotely human, white, black, furry, you name it. But some" the man continued. "Some look just like us. They're the ones we have to look out for. They look human."  
  
"So, how do you tell them apart from us?" Storm realised that he should probably shut up, and leave, but he couldn't resist.  
  
"You don't. until they do something strange. See, they're all freaks, human looking, but not human on the inside, you know? For all I know, you could be one of them, and the only way I could tell." the man took a step forward, towards him. Storm's breath caught in his throat, and he took an involuntary step back. The man laughed. 


	7. chapter 7

"How could you tell?" Storm asked, tightening the muscles in his legs to prevent them from moving away. He would not retreat, not back away from these morons.  
  
"There are differences" the man smiled.  
  
"Oh"  
  
"Yeah." Spoke another one, grinning. "One thing you can do, is break their arm, or shoot them. They don't feel pain, you know."  
  
Storm felt a chill wash over them. Were these morons serious? "So, if you think you've got a transgenic, you figure it out by shooting them?" he asked. Now, he would back away. Screw this. these were sociopaths, not humans. The man saw him backing away, and grinned evilly. Storm turned and walked slowly away, resisting an urge to touch his barcode, check it was still covered. And they wanted to save these people? Keep them alive? At least familiars had a reason for what they were doing, a messed up, alternate-reality reason, maybe, but at least they had a reason. Humans were just plain evil.  
  
  
  
Neil left the room, and Alec's head slumped back down against the pillow. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on breathing for a few seconds. Max watched him, concerned, but also kind of relieved. Glad that he was finally comfortable to allow his true feelings to show around her, to let her see the pain he was feeling. Max put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly, and he finally opened his eyes, looking up at her.  
  
"So, this revolution you're planning." He commented, smiling lightly.  
  
"I keep remembering that day" she told him, looking across the room, her eyes not really seeing anything, just remembering. "When we stood on the rooftop, raised Joshua's flag, proclaimed ourself to be something."  
  
"Freak Nation" Alec laughed, then sobered quickly.  
  
"Yeah. Our home. A place to be free. But, we still aren't. those militia outside the gates, they're stopping us from doing anything. we need food, medical supplies, other such essentials."  
  
"Want me to go kick them out?" he offered.  
  
"Take me seriously" she told him, finally looking down at him. she moved her hand to his neck, and pushed downwards lightly.  
  
"Fine. First thing we need to do, is take out their eyes" he told her, reaching up to take her hand, and move it slightly, so that it was around the side of his neck, and not choking off his windpipe.  
  
Max nodded, understanding him instantly. "Target practice" she suggested. Alec laughed, and she punched him lightly. "What?" she asked him he shook his head, laughing too hard to answer.  
  
"I'm scared to ask" Mole's voice came from the doorway. "Max." Alec started to tell him, then shook his head, clenching his fist to try to stop himself laughing.  
  
"Max. what?" Mole prompted. Max sighed. "Start issuing low calibre weapons to people. Pass the word, any hover- drone that comes overhead, shoot it down. Right now, they're getting to see too much of what we're doing." Mole nodded, then glanced at Alec, confusion on his face. It wasn't that funny. It wasn't even vaguely funny. It was just a good, sound plan. So why was Alec almost hysterical? Was there something in that IV drip?  
  
"Max wants to lead from the front" Alec finally choked out.  
  
"Oh." That helped. A lot. But, it kind of did. He remembered a conversation he had had with Storm before the mission. "Okay" he told them, glancing at Alec and nodding slightly. "So, I'll prepare a bunch of handguns, several boxes of ammunition, and what? A pile of rocks?"  
  
Alec howled, and Max hit him again. "He said it, not me" he complained, rubbing his shoulder, a wry expression on his face.  
  
"Yeah, but you're closer" she told him. Mole laughed at that, and gave Max a mock salute. "On it."  
  
Shay pulled his cap further down onto his face as he curled up against a wall in an alley. It was cold, and the clothing he wore was almost useless. His camo gear would have been much better, but he had left that in a dumpster. Well, several dumpsters, to be honest. He pulled his knees up harder into his chest, shuddering as a gust of wind swept through the alley. This sucked. He missed terminal city, hell, at this point, he missed Manticore. At least it was warm there. He couldn't go back, though, not yet. It wasn't safe at night, and he was drawing attention to himself being out on the street alone. Identify the target, then observe. That was what he had been taught. If Alec was with him, then he would have risked it, gone straight through the human mob and leapt the fence. Damn the consequences. But he wasn't, and he just didn't have the confidence. So, he fell back on Manticore training. Tomorrow. He would find a way to the fence, and over it.  
  
  
  
Mole whistled as he went about his work. He stripped yet another rifle, expertly removing the bolt, and laying it on a rag. He ran a cloth through the rifle, cleaning it, then picked up the bolt. He picked up the bolt and disassembled it, oiling it before putting it back together. He snapped the bolt back into the rifle, and grinned. He loved his work.  
  
"Hey Storm!" he yelled, seeing the young boy walk into HQ.  
  
"Huh?" Storm replied, distracted, wandering over.  
  
"Reckon you're a better shot than me?" he challenged.  
  
Storm smiled slightly "Wouldn't take much. what we aiming at? Tin cans?"  
  
"Yeah. The type that fly through the air. Bet I can get more hover-drones than you"  
  
"Deal" Storm laughed, shaking his head. Stuff the humans, this was where he wanted to be. He grabbed a rifle off the table and cracked it open, checking it. "Can you shoot as good as you clean?" he asked, grinning.  
  
"Better than you, boy" Mole threw a box of ammo at him, and grabbed one for himself. "Last one to three 'drones buys the beer"  
  
  
  
Alec was dreaming. He was standing on a beach. He had neve stood on a beach in his life, but he was there, and he could feel the sand beneath his feet, the way that the wind blew in circles, the salt spray on his face. He looked around, slowly, and saw two people casually walking down the beach, arm in arm. The guy spoke to the girl, and she laughed, hugging him as they walked. His eyes tracked them as they walked past him, ignoring him. from his pocket, he pulled out a gun, and fired four times, twice in the heart of each of them. They both fell to the ground.  
  
The tide moved closer towards them, and as he watched, the waves began to lap over the bodies, cleansing the sand of the blood that had stained it.  
  
Alec sat down on the sand and watched while the waves curled over the bodies. Then he turned the gun towards him, and looked down the barrel.  
  
He gasped, sitting up in bed, frantically trying to draw breath. His hands ran over his face, checking for blood, or something. He threw the covers off him, and stood up, leaning most of his weight on his uninjured leg. It felt like he couldn't breathe. He crossed the room, and left it, letting the door slam behind him. In the waiting room was a large window, and he shoved it open, leaning out it, sucking in cold air. He stood there for several minutes, shivering, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He didn't want to favour his bad leg, but it hurt. Finally, he turned, and slid down the wall to sit on the ground, folding his good leg under the other to help support it. He closed his eyes.  
  
Twenty minutes later, the nurse walked through the front door, and shivered. It was colder inside than it was out. She pulled her jacket closer around her, and opened the door to the waiting room. a gust of icy wind greeted her, and she caught sight of a window wide open. Then she saw Alec, sitting beneath it. She moved quickly towards him, shutting the window then kneeling beside him. he was shivering uncontrollably, and his eyes were shut. She pulled her jacket off, and draped it over Alec's bare chest. He muttered something, and kept shivering. The nurse moved closer to Alec, slipping her arms around him to try to keep him warm. "Wake up" she spoke loudly, touching his neck, and feeling for a pulse. Alec's eyes opened at her touch, and he looked at her. "What the hell?" he asked softly. 


	8. chapter 8

"What are you doing?" Alec asked, pushing her away from him, and standing up.  
  
"Alec, you're freezing" she told him, standing up and reaching towards him. he took another step back, confused.  
  
"I'm okay" he told her.  
  
"You're shivering. Go lie down, get warm"  
  
Alec continued to stare at her. He had closed his eyes for a second, then, she had been there, her arms around him. weird. But she was right. He was cold. Must have been the open window. He turned, and walked back into his room. the cold was helping his leg. It didn't hurt. That had to be good. He kept walking, crossing the room. his leg felt better, stronger.  
  
"Hey" Neil's voice came from the door. Alec turned. "Neil" he greeted, guarded, unsure whether he was about to be yelled at again.  
  
"So, what the hell happened with my nurse?" Yep, Alec thought. He was going to get yelled at. "I don't know."  
  
Neil sighed, then walked over to him. "How's the knee?"  
  
"It feels better" Alec commented, flexing it.  
  
"Walk for me" Neil commanded. Alec walked across the room, then turned back. Neil nodded. "Hurt?" he asked.  
  
"No, not really" Alec replied, actually meaning it.  
  
"Good. Get out of here" Neil smiled.  
  
"Give me that again?" Alec asked, confused.  
  
"Go away. I'm sick of you being here. Go sleep in your own bed, or Max's, or whatever. It you can walk without limping, you can go."  
  
Alec grinned. "Seriously?"  
  
"Why not. I want to see you tomorrow, though." Neil picked up a jacket and threw it at Alec. "You know, it really bugs me that you heal so fast. Leaves me with nothing to do"  
  
Alec shrugged, wincing slightly, and trying to hide it. "Saw that" Neil told him.  
  
"I'm still leaving." Alec told him, gently pulling the jacket on, leaving it unzipped. "Later" he commented, grinning at Neil as he left.  
  
"Yeah, have fun" Neil muttered to an empty room.  
  
  
  
Alec knocked on Max's door, then opened it. Not locked. It hadn't been since Logan left TC. Not that he was reading anything into that at all. "Max?" he called softly, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him. there was no answer, and he walked over to the bedroom. she didn't sleep that much, but it was almost midnight. He opened the door soundlessly, and saw her on the bed. She looked so perfect, lying there, sheets pushed back on the bed. she shivered, and he moved over to the bed, gently pulling the sheet up over her. She moaned slightly. "Max?" he whispered, and he smiled as her eyes opened.  
  
"Alec?" she reached out towards him. "Hey." He took her hand in his, and kissed it lightly.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked, shaking her head, trying to wake up.  
  
"Neil sprung me. I'm free" she smiled, pulling his hand towards her. He leant closer to her, and kissed her lightly, wincing at the slight pain still in his shoulder.  
  
"Alec?"  
  
"I'm fine" he told her. "Just a bit sore. You think Neil would let me go otherwise?"  
  
"I think you snuck out" she told him, moving away from him on the bed. "you're freezing"  
  
"Yeah. I'm getting that a lot tonight." He told her, sitting on the bed, kicking his shoes off. Max looked at him, then ran her finger up his arm. He did feel cold. She moved her arm around him, inside his jacket, moving her hand up his chest. "God, you're like ice" she told him. "Come here, warm up before you're back in hospital with hypothermia."  
  
Alec smiled down at her, and took off his jacket, before moving down to lie beside her. Max pulled him closer to her, wrapping her arms around him.  
  
"God" Alec commented "What?" she asked, her hand moving up his back. "If I'd have known that all I had to do was get shot, I would have done this a long time ago."  
  
"idiot" she told him. he laughed, rolling onto his back, pulling her with him.  
  
"Does it still hurt?" she asked him, lightly touching the bandage on his shoulder.  
  
"It doesn't matter" he replied, running his hand through her hair. "I missed you" he told her, softly. "When. after I got shot, it hurt so bad, I couldn't remember anything. I kept having these dreams, that seemed so real. I kind of made me wonder if you and me, if we were only a dream too" he closed his eyes. Okay, that sounded stupid, he thought. She was going to laugh, or punch him, or something. Probably go back to Logan, who was annoying as hell, but who at least never said anything quite that dumb.  
  
Max didn't hit him, she kissed his shoulder lightly, and took his hand in hers.  
  
"Alec?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"We have to talk"  
  
"Oh. God" he commented, moving slightly so that he could see her. "This cant be good"  
  
She laughed. "No, just business stuff"  
  
Alec groaned. "Tomorrow, okay? Please? We can do this tomorrow. The world will still be fucked up, everyone will still need saving. Just a few hours, okay?"  
  
She nodded, curling up against him, and feeling his arm go around her. Its not like it was a hard decision to make. With Alec's body pressed up against hers, it was not like she would be able to think too clearly anyway.  
  
  
  
Shay jerked awake as he heard a slight sound. He pulled the brim of his cap down harder over his head, and glanced around. nothing. It was probably a rat. 3am. it would be light in about two hours. Probably safe enough to make his move now. It was that time of morning when no-one was awake, except a few cops that patrolled the streets. And he would be able to hear them coming. He hated rats. He really hated rats. He stood slowly, moving to the entrance to the alley, then took a deep breath, and walked out onto the street. By his reckoning, TC was about three blocks away. He started to jog. When he could see the perimeter fence, he stopped, pressing himself up against a wall and looking around the corner. The usual band of humans were there, some drinking, most sleeping. There were a lot of guns around. He returned his attention to TC, looking for the guards that he knew would be there. All he needed, was to be shot by his own kind. That would top off his week just great.  
  
He saw one guard, standing by a window in a building. Then another, on the street. Slowly, Shay stepped out into the road, the wall he was leaning against still hiding him from the humans. The guard in the window tracked his movements. Shay slowly reached up and took his cap off, turning 180 degrees and touching the back of his neck before turning to face them again. Would they get the point? That he was one of them? The guard in the window lowered his gun. Good. They knew it was him, or at least a transgenic.  
  
With a quick glance towards the humans, he ran for the fence, jumping it, but landing hard on the other side. the sound caught the attention of a human, who grabbed a weapon and turned towards Shay. Shay lay there, not moving. Human eyesight sucked. It was still pretty dark, he wouldn't see anything.  
  
Finally, the guard looked away, and Shay sprinted towards the guards. "X6-692" he identified himself the guard grinned. "Shit, they'll be glad to see you. They thought you were dead."  
  
"me too" Shay told them, smiling. It was good to be home. 


	9. chapter 9

Max woke slowly, feeling Alec's arms tight around her. She smiled, and moved closer into his embrace. She felt her shoulder brush up against the bandages on his shoulder, and pulled back slightly, not wanting to hurt him. Alec moaned as she moved away from him. "you awake?" she whispered, running her hand up his arm.  
  
"No" he muttered, pulling her back towards him. Max turned in his arms, wrapping her arms around his back.  
  
"Alec. It's 5am"  
  
"Don't care" he muttered, keeping his eyes firmly closed. Max waited for a moment.  
  
"Yeah, okay. Fine" he told her, opening his eyes, and glaring at her briefly before smiling. "What is so important that it can't wait until a decent hour?" he asked  
  
"We have stuff to do" she pulled away from him, and got out of bed. Alec groaned.  
  
"we really don't." he muttered, only half serious. Max grinned at him, and as he watched, her expression altered. The look in her eyes became more focussed, more serious. Kind of like she looked right before a mission. Alec nodded. He hadn't seen that expression since the Jam Pony incident, definitely hadn't seen it during the recent mission on the hill. Max was reverting back into leader mode.  
  
He could live with that. "Go see Neil, make sure you're okay, then we'll meet in HQ, okay? I have some stuff I want to check out, first."  
  
He nodded, dropping his head back onto the pillow.  
  
  
  
"He's not going to like this" Mole told Max, shaking his head. "He'll be okay with it" "Ahh, no. he won't. how can you sleep with the guy and not know that?" Mole took a quick few steps backwards. The distance didn't protect him from the full force of Max's glare.  
  
"Alec will understand" she told him firmly.  
  
"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"  
  
"I have no choice"  
  
"I guess. But I do, right? And I choose to be as far away from here as possible when you tell him. okay?"  
  
"Mole, shut up"  
  
he shrugged, and lit a cigar, taking a seat. For all his talk about running away, Mole really wanted to see this particular argument. "Just trying to help" he commented.  
  
She glared at him, then turned her attention to Dix "I need some stuff. Its urgent. Can you arrange a team for an away mission? Three or four guys to hit an electronic supply factory."  
  
"X or Freak?" he asked, thrilled to be asked. "Doesn't matter. As long as they can do the job, and fast."  
  
"Hey, Alec!" Mole interrupted, jumping off his seat and going over to greet his friend. "Morning" he greeted, slightly taken back by the greeting.  
  
"Great to see ya back on your feet" Mole told him, putting his hand on Alec's shoulder"  
  
"thanks, buddy" he replied, confused.  
  
"Mole, SHUT UP" Max interrupted the two of them. Both men looked over to her.  
  
"We didn't have a good night last night, did we?" Mole asked sarcastically, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.  
  
Alec looked from Max to Mole, then back again. He had the strange feeling that he was being kept out of the loop.  
  
"Can we talk?" she asked him, gesturing to the back room. he shrugged, punching Mole, who was finding something really funny, then following Max into the room.  
  
"This is bad, right?" he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms  
  
"What makes you think that?"  
  
"Mole was laughing."  
  
Max ran her hand through her hair. "Okay, here's the thing" he looked at her, inquiringly.  
  
"Since the night of the mission, I've had Dix and some others trying to figure out where the familiars could have taken Shay, Tim and Ray. They've done everything they could, traced calls, watched for troop movement, everything we could think of. Nothing. The setup we have here just isn't good enough."  
  
Alec bit his lip. He had assumed as much. if they had found them, they would have gone after them already.  
  
"We have to find them" she told him.  
  
"Okay, what do we do?"  
  
"Well, I," she paused, not wanting to say this. "I go talk to Logan, get him to help."  
  
"No." Alec replied shortly, unfolding his arms.  
  
"Alec, I have no choice" she took a step towards him, reaching for him.  
  
He shook his head. "Yes, you do. We do. We will find another way, come up with something else."  
  
"Alec, there isn't anything. we don't have the equipment here."  
  
"Then I'll get it" he told her quickly. "Tell me what we need, I'll get it."  
  
She moved so that she was standing right in front of him. reaching out her hand, she touched his shoulder, the injured one, then pushed, sending him back against the wall. He gasped in pain.  
  
"You can't. you're still hurt" she told him  
  
He glared at her, emotional pain flooding over his features. He didn't trust Logan, didn't want her anywhere near him.  
  
"Then, I'll get someone else to do it. I'll bring in a computer expert if that's what it'll take. I have contacts." He fought hard to prevent his voice sound like he was begging.  
  
"it's too great a risk. What if your expert betrays us?"  
  
Alec groaned in frustration and banged his fist against the wall. "Logan betrayed me! He told White where to find me! What makes you think he won't betray us again?"  
  
"Alec, I don't think he did."  
  
"Aaargh!" he screamed, hitting the wall again, putting his fist through it. He turned away from Max, leaning his forehead against the wall. He struggled to slow his breathing down. He couldn't allow this to happen. If Max spent more time with Logan, she would start to believe his crap again. She already was. But, if he yelled at her, told her there was no way she was going to see that bastard again, she would tell him where to go, and do it anyway. He sighed, then turned back to face her.  
  
Max felt her heart drop at the look on his face. He looked devastated, like she had just ripped his heart out. "You can't go alone" he told her. "It's too dangerous to go anywhere alone. There are familiars everywhere."  
  
"He won't help me if you go. He. doesn't like you" Understatement of the century.  
  
"I didn't say me. I said take someone." He told her. Someone of his choosing. Someone who was loyal to him, who would be prepared to severely dismember Logan if he tried anything. Mole, would be a great choice. If only he wasn't green.  
  
"Okay. But someone who doesn't stand out" Alec nodded, accepting her terms. he turned away from her and opened the door.  
  
"Alec, wait" he paused.  
  
"we have to find them. Logan is the one person I know, who may have the contacts to help us do that. That's all"  
  
he shook his head. "I just, I don't like this, okay?" he walked out the door, forcibly preventing himself from slamming the door behind him.  
  
"Hey, Alec." Mole stood up  
  
"Shut up, Mole" he told him, storming out the door.  
  
"Yeah, yeah" he commented, lighting a fresh cigar. "Seems to be the day for it." 


	10. chapter 10

two hours earlier.  
  
"It's good to have you back, 692" spoke one of the transgenics  
  
"Yeah" the other one commented. "Max'll be real happy. We thought you were all dead" Shay's heart sank. No-one else had gotten out but Max? man, it was worse than he thought. He pulled the brim of his cap down lower over his eyes.  
  
"Tell me something" he asked quietly. "Did the mission succeed? Did Max get the virus out?"  
  
"Yeah" the first guy nodded. "It's not going to be an issue. Listen, you better go find her, let her know you're okay."  
  
Shay nodded. He really did want to see Max, but. "Where is she? Any idea?"  
  
"Probably at HQ. She's starting to put together a transgenic army"  
  
"Why? What does she need an army for?"  
  
"Revenge" put in the second one, grinning. "She's pretty pissed off with the familiars after that mission. Think she wants to end the problem, and fast."  
  
Shay nodded. "Listen, I've got some stuff to do, then I'll go check in with Max."  
  
the guards nodded.  
  
He walked away, feeling complete and utter desperation. Max was the only one who had gotten out? The others were all dead? Storm, Tim, Ray? Alec? God, it just wasn't worth thinking about. He walked through TC, trying to imagine the place without his friends. No Storm and Tim to mess around with, play-fight in the carpark. No Alec. Shay walked to Alec's apartment without realising it, then he shrugged, and climbed the steps to his friend's old apartment.  
  
Alec left HQ , his head spinning. Things just kept going wrong. Everything was such a mess. He'd give anything to find his friends, do anything. it wasn't that he was being selfish, not wanting Max to talk to Logan. It was more that he just didn't trust him. as bad as things seemed right now, they could get worse. Far worse. Logan could, and would, betray them at the first opportunity. As bad as it would be to lose Shay and Tim, it would be far worse to see Freak Nation destroyed around him.  
  
"Hey, Alec" Alec looked up and smiled vaguely at the guy talking to him. he looked sort of familiar. He was carrying a rifle, which meant that he had been pulling guard duty.  
  
"Good night?" he asked him.  
  
"Yeah, pretty quiet." The guard replied. "Hey, its great to have Shay back, huh?"  
  
"What??" Alec grabbed him. "What did you say?'  
  
"Shay. He came back a few hours ago. Jumped the fence. Haven't you seen him yet?"  
  
"No. are you sure it was Shay?" Alec felt his heart start to race.  
  
"Yeah, of course."  
  
"Well, what did he say? Was he okay?"  
  
"he said he had some stuff to take care of, then he was going to HQ"  
  
Alec grinned. "Tell Max, okay?" He tapped him on the shoulder to thank him and turned away. Shay was okay. Something was finally going right.  
  
He walked quickly, almost running, to the building Shay had been staying in, going via the parking lot in case he was there. Shay wasn't in his apartment. Where else would he be? Alec's own apartment, maybe, or Storm's? he might have gone there to find them, particularly at 3am. Of course that's what he would have done. If it was Alec, the first thing he would do would be to check on his friends.  
  
"Shay?" Alec called as he entered his apartment. He caught sight of Shay standing by the window, looking out over the city.  
  
When he heard his name, Shay turned, stunned. "I thought. I thought you were dead" Shay spoke quietly. The last time he had seen him he was lying on the ground, bleeding, and not moving. He had looked dead.  
  
"Yeah, same here. I thought the same thing." Alec crossed the room to stand in front of Shay, putting his hand on Shay's shoulder. "You okay?" he asked him, even as he looked him over, checking for injuries  
  
Shay nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. You?"  
  
"Always" Alec grinned at him. "I still want Neil to check you out though, okay?"  
  
"fine, but I'm okay. Tell me about the others, what happened?"  
  
"Later. We'll need a full debrief. You're really okay?"  
  
"the guards, I thought they said that everyone had died, except Max."  
  
Alec sighed. "We lost Tim, and Ray. We'll do this later, okay?"  
  
Shay nodded. "Come on" Alec told him, putting his arm around his shoulder and leading him to the door.  
  
  
  
As Shay entered the back room, Max grinned. She stood up and grabbed him, pulling him into a hug.  
  
"Great to see you" she told him.  
  
Shay hugged her back, then took a seat, glancing over at Alec, who was leaning in the doorway.  
  
"Don't ask me" he commented. "First thing she did when she saw me was yell. Consider yourself lucky."  
  
Shay laughed.  
  
"How would you know?" Max retaliated, glaring at him "You were unconscious."  
  
"only way you could ever beat me."  
  
"Shut up" Mole commented. Max and Alec turned to glare at him "What? You say it to me all the time. I can't say it to you too?"  
  
Max shrugged. "Where's Storm? We need to get this started."  
  
"Here" Storm entered the room. "Just waiting for the fireworks to calm down."  
  
"Shay, tell us what happened." He looked at Max, and nodded, then slowly began to speak, telling everything he could remember, from finding Alec lying in the tunnel, to being grabbed from behind, then waking up in a small room.  
  
Max looked over at Alec. He nodded, understanding what she wanted him to ask. "Did you see Tim" he asked  
  
"No" Shay shook his head. "I didn't see anyone but two guards. Do you think he could have been there too?"  
  
"Maybe. Do you remember the location?" he asked, leaning forward.  
  
"Yeah, I think I could find it again. There was a high fence surrounding it."  
  
Dix slid a map across the table.  
  
Shay ran his finger along some roads on the map, trying to remember where he had gone. "Here" he said, finally, pointing to an old factory. "I think this is it."  
  
"Alec?" Max spoke.  
  
"On it" he stood quickly, glancing at the map, committing it to memory, before leaving the room. Mole followed him.  
  
"Lets do this" Alec told Mole. He grinned in anticipation. "Right."  
  
Mole gestured to four transgenics who were leaning against the wall. They wandered over. "This is Renny, Travis, Matthew and Garrett. They're the ones Dix nominated as team leaders."  
  
Alec nodded, shaking hands with the four of them. "Right. We're sending out a mission tonight, recon, and rescue. The target is a familiar warehouse." The four of them grinned.  
  
"Lets start discussing details, then, shall we?" 


	11. chapter 11

  
  
"Alec" he looked up to see Shay standing in the doorway. He nodded at Garrett, who was suggesting something to the others, and stood up.  
  
"What's up?" he asked him.  
  
"I want to go. On the mission tonight" Shay told him.  
  
"No" Alec replied. "Shay, they'll take care of it. Okay? You've just come off a mission, you shouldn't go out again yet."  
  
"Alec, listen to me. I have to go. It's my fault. I left them there. I should have checked to see if anyone else had been held there. But I just left"  
  
"No. you did what you had to do. You followed your training. You may not have gotten out if you'd taken the time to look around. then, we couldn't have helped anyone."  
  
"You would have checked." Shay looked down at the ground. Alec put his hand on Shay's shoulder.  
  
"If I had known, for a fact, that they were there. How could you have known?"  
  
"I just, I don't like to think of Tim there, by himself."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
two hours later.  
  
Max looked up as Alec entered the room. "Everything all set?"  
  
"Yeah" he told her, taking a seat. "They'll head out as soon as it gets dark. Gives them about 8 hours to prepare."  
  
"Plenty of time" Max commented, looking at her watch. It was barely mid- day. "How's your leg?" she asked him. "What did Neil say?"  
  
"That I could run a marathon, if I wanted to, but that I still wasn't fit enough to fight with you." He smiled at her.  
  
"Idiot" she told him, moving over to kneel beside him, running her hand up his leg. "Seriously, is it okay?"  
  
"Yeah." He told her, placing his hand over hers. "Its sore, but I heal pretty quick, only took a couple of days to get over being shot." He put pressure on her hand, so that she was pressing down on his thigh.  
  
"Show off" she replied to his comment, and moved her hand lower, running it gently over the gunshot wound.  
  
"Nah, just very, very good" he laughed. She shook her head. "Idiot."  
  
"You keep saying that" he told her, lifting her chin with his hand and kissing her lightly. Max groaned lightly, increasing the pressure on his leg as she moved up to kiss him harder. Alec gasped as her hand exerted slightly too much pressure on his leg. She pulled back instantly, moving her hand. "Sorry" she told him. Alec shrugged, shifting position so that his legs were on either side of Max. "Did you hear me complaining?" he asked, reaching his hand out for her.  
  
"I need you fit" she told him, standing up. "Fine." He told her, taking a deep breath and switching into soldier mode. "Listen, Garrett needs a detailed map of the area. can you grab one while I check with Dix about the weaponry?"  
  
  
  
2320 hrs.  
  
"God, what the hell is going on?" Alec asked, nervously pacing the distance of the room.  
  
"Give them time" Max told him, trying her best to annoy him by acting as relaxed as possible. She sat against a wall, with her feet out, directly in the line that Alec was pacing in.  
  
"They've had time. 80 minutes without contact. What the hell are they doing?"  
  
"Not good at waiting, are we?" she asked him.  
  
"Yeah, 'cause I did so much of that at Manticore. Sat on my arse and waited for missions to be over." Alec replied sarcastically. He reached the end of the room and turned around, glaring at the communications equipment on the table, which was doing nothing but taking up space.  
  
"You're really annoying" she told him as he stepped over her, reached the wall, and turned around.  
  
"Move your feet then" he told her, stepping over her again. Max reacted, the minute he was on the other side of her, she pushed up off the ground with her arms. Her legs moved around him, her top leg into his midsection, and her bottom leg against the back of his knees. She flipped him to the ground and moved on top of him, her hands pressing his to the ground.  
  
"You're annoying me" she repeated. "promise to stop pacing, or I won't let you up" Alec stared up at her, not saying anything, completely content to stay where he was.  
  
The radio crackled to life "Base, team three" Max moved quickly to grab the mike. "Base, go ahead." She replied.  
  
"Nothing. Place is empty. Mission is a wash."  
  
"Shit" Alec cursed, slamming his hand down on the table.  
  
"Base, we're pulling back, unless you want us to do another sweep?"  
  
"No, pull back." Alec took the mike off Max, shaking his head.  
  
"Heard that, Base. See you soon." Alec threw the mike at the wall. It shattered into a hundred pieces and fell to the floor.  
  
"Now what?" he asked.  
  
"Now, I go see Logan" she told him, sighing.  
  
Alec closed his eyes, fighting for focus, fighting not to say the things running through his mind right then.  
  
"Can you handle the debrief when they get back?" she asked him  
  
"Yeah" he said dully.  
  
Max stared at him, hating that she had caused the expression on his face. His jaw was clenched, and his expression looked strained. She wanted to put her arms around him, tell him that the only reason she was going to see Logan was because she wanted the information. But, she thought maybe they weren't at that stage yet.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow" she told him, and he winced.  
  
there was a new tunnel out of TC, and Max took it, nodding at the guards stationed at the entrance. There were guards at the other end too, although they weren't that obvious. Two teenagers playing ball in an abandoned lot. Two X6's. she smiled a greeting at them, and one of them nodded slightly, before throwing the ball back to his friend. Give Mole a little responsibility, and look what he could achieve. Max was very, very impressed. This was far better than jumping over a fence all the time. And safer. She reached Joshua's house, where Logan was staying, and she glanced around her, scoping the place out, checking for anyone who may have been watching. It seemed safe. She knocked lightly on the door, and waited. Finally the door opened.  
  
"Max" Logan greeted, looking surprised, but happy to see her. He quickly gestured for her to come in. "What's going on?" he asked her. He led her to the couch, and offered her a seat, before taking a chair opposite. He leant forward eagerly.  
  
"I need your help" she told him, taken aback slightly by the expression on his face. This was the Logan she had first gotten to know, in the first few months that she had known him. Smiling, and relaxed and not so constantly caught up in improving the world.  
  
"Tell me what's been going on"  
  
Max gave him an abbreviated version of the events since he had left. When she spoke of the mission, and of losing Tim, her voice cracked. She had spent so much time trying to appear strong, to Storm, the other transgenics, and then later to Alec, that she had almost ignored how she had felt about it. Tim was probably the one she was closest to, she had spent a lot of time with him, sparring and showing him some moves, and just talking. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and she blinked furiously, angry with herself. Logan moved to sit beside her, hesitantly placing his arm around her.  
  
"Max?" he asked softly. Max turned to look at him. "I have to find Tim. Can you help? Look for troop movements, or whatever? Put out the word on your informant net?" she looked at him hopefully. Logan nodded. "I'll do what I can." He told her, squeezing her shoulder. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll try, okay?"  
  
Max nodded.  
  
the four teams walked into HQ, dejected at having found nothing. Alec heard them enter, and went to greet them. He nodded at some of those he recognised, and gestured to Garrett to get the other team leaders and join him in the room he had just come out of.  
  
"Talk to me" he looked at Garrett when the five of them were seated. "Yes, Sir" Garrett replied. "We entered the compound, carried out a search. There was nobody there. We saw a window, smashed out, like Shay described. Apart from that, there were two rooms that seemed to have been used as prison cells. We found handcuffs, among other things. One of the rooms was right near the broken window. Must have been where they held Shay."  
  
"And the other one held Tim" Alec guessed.  
  
"Very likely, Sir. But we found nothing there, no blood, nothing."  
  
Alec nodded. At least they hadn't shot Tim in there, then removed the body. "Carry on" he asked.  
  
"Nothing else to report. No other clues."  
  
"Okay." Alec looked around. "Good job, guys. Well done. Pass on my thanks to your men." The four nodded, standing up to attention. "Thank you, sir" they spoke as one, evidence of their Manticore training. Renny, Travis and Matthew turned to leave, but Garrett stayed where he was. As the other three close the door behind them, Alec looked up at him.  
  
"Something else?" he asked, gesturing for him to sit down again.  
  
"Thanks, Sir" Garrett smiled, sitting down. "I don't know if it's relevant or not, probably not, but one of the rooms we found there, it was." Garrett paused, as if searching for words.  
  
"What" Alec asked, leaning forward.  
  
"It was like Manticore, like Psy Ops." Garrett shook his head. "The room, it was completely white. Blinding. I went in there, and shut the door behind me, and it was like I was back in re-indoctrination, you know?"  
  
Alec nodded. He knew all too well what psy ops was like.  
  
"What do you think it was, Sir? Why have a room painted that colour?"  
  
Alec shrugged. "No idea."  
  
"That's all, Sir." Garrett stood up. "It was just, I don't know, it brought back some weird memories, that's all"  
  
"Thanks" Garrett left, and Alec stared into space. He remembered re-indoc all too well. There had been a room there, painted black. So black, that it was hard, almost impossible to tell where the walls were. Why the hell was there a white room at that facility? 


	12. chapter 12

"Dix" Alec stuck his head out the door and gestured to the transgenic. Dix stood quickly, and followed him into the room.  
  
"What do you need?"  
  
"I need you to contact Max. you have her cell number, right?"  
  
"Yeah, of course. What do I tell her?"  
  
"That the teams found evidence of recent occupation. Tim was probably there, but they moved him after Shay escaped. It might help Logan track troop movements."  
  
Dix heard the pause before Alec spoke Logan's name, and the contempt in his voice as he said it. He slowly met his leader's gaze.  
  
"you could call her yourself" he said quietly, then quickly looked down, scared that he had gone too far. It wasn't his place to tell Alec to do anything. he should be satisfied, no, grateful, just to be included.  
  
"I told you to do it" Alec snapped, turning away from him to face the window. Dix nodded, then turned to the door. He had blown it. Just great.  
  
Alec heard Dix open the door. "Hey" he commented. Dix stopped, and turned to him.  
  
"If I call, Logan won't help us. And we do need his help."  
  
"I'll call her right now. Anything else to tell her?"  
  
an image of a room, completely white, blinding, flashed in front of his eyes. Then, another image, him holding Max in his arms, leaning down and capturing her lips with his. "No" he told Dix. "Nothing else."  
  
"Done" Dix left the room, and Alec went back to staring out the window. He could just about see the space needle from here.  
  
  
  
Ray threw a tennis ball against the wall. It rebounded off the ground, and bounced back into his waiting hand. He threw it again, not even concentrating on it, but catching it. He had had lots of practice in the past few days. There was nothing else to do. The only people he saw were doctors, people in white coats that talked to him and looked at him funny when he answered their questions. A few times, his father had entered the room. Ray had nothing to say to him, and his father went away again. He didn't know what to do. He threw the ball again, hard, and it flew back into his waiting hand.  
  
"Was it bad?" Storm asked Shay as they sat in the parking lot.  
  
"I don't really remember" Shay told him, shrugging.  
  
Storm nodded. "I'm sorry, man." He told him.  
  
"Huh?" Shay looked up. "What?"  
  
"I should have stayed with you, if I was there, we could have stopped them."  
  
"Don't be an idiot." Shay told him. "If you hadn't gone after Max, then they might have got her. They might have released the virus."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
"idiot."  
  
"Don't call me that" Storm told him, pushing him lightly.  
  
"You are. Christ, who do you think you are, Alec? He's the one that feels guilty about everything. Max too. There ain't that much blame to go around."  
  
Storm shoved him off the crate. "Moron" he responded.  
  
  
  
the black room. it was one of those things that Alec had tried so hard to put out of his mind. He thought that he had succeeded. He hadn't thought about it for a few months. Not really, anyway. The worst thing was opening his eyes and realising that he couldn't see. That he was completely blind and that no matter where he looked, everything was completely black. It had been like being back in that room, and he had been frightened. Alec shook his head. Christ, he was becoming pathetic. He grabbed his jacket off the chair, and went looking for Shay and Storm. Dix had said that they were in the lot, talking, and he remembered the last thing he had said to them on the mission, that they would have a drink together after the mission. It was time to keep that deal.  
  
He walked into the lot, and caught sight of both of them, play fighting. He laughed out loud as he heard Shay call Storm an idiot, taunting him, and Storm's retaliatory comment about Shay's parentage. They both turned to look at him, then they laughed, too. "Your mother was a goat?" Alec repeated, grinning.  
  
"Best thing about being a transgenic?" Storm commented. "there are always insults, readily available."  
  
"Let's go get a drink" Alec told them. "My shout"  
  
"Do you have anything yet?" Max asked, leaning over Logan's shoulder.  
  
"Not yet" he replied, distracted, as he fast forwarded through some surveillance tape. "Got this through the informant net. One of the hover-drones from that area."  
  
"Must have been one that Storm and Mole missed." She commented.  
  
"What?" he turned to look at her, his legs brushing up against her.  
  
"Oh, umm, Storm and Mole have been using the drones as target practice. Doesn't matter"  
  
"Hmm" Logan commented. "Nothing here. I have some other contacts I can try, but most of them I won't be able to reach until morning. You're not going to try to head back to TC are you? There's a lot of movement out there."  
  
Max shook her head. "Nah, I thought I'd stay here, keep working on this. we need to know fast, Logan."  
  
"I'm working on it" he told her, turning back to the screen. "Listen, why don't you get some rest? I have a few more files to go through, and if my contact comes through, there will be several more coming through later. We may as well do this in shifts."  
  
Max nodded, accepting the logic. She stretched out on the couch, and closed her eyes. Although she didn't need much sleep, she still needed some, and the last few days, she hadn't really gotten any. There had been so much work to do, and when there wasn't, she had spent a lot of time with Alec in the hospital, wanting to be there when he woke up. She smiled slightly, thinking about the night before, waking up to Alec's arms around her.  
  
Two hours later.  
  
Logan watched her openly, the way she curled around a pillow, resting her head on the arm of the couch, smiling the way that had always driven him insane. He had missed her more than he had thought possible, and the possibility that she was with Alec, cuddling up to him at night the way she was holding that pillow, was more than he could stand. She moved slightly, getting comfortable, and Logan turned quickly back to his computer, skimming through footage. This was interesting. There was the familiar base, and a car. It was only there for a second, before the drone moved over another building, obscuring the shot. He continued watching the file to see if there was anything else there.  
  
"Anything?" Max whispered, and he turned around, pressing pause on the screen. Max stood behind him, rubbing her neck. "Not so far" he told her, hitting delete.  
  
"Couch not too comfortable huh?" he asked.  
  
"Nah, I slept here a few times, when I was watching Joshua. Each time I swore I would get him a new couch. I never did. Guess I'm paying for it now, huh?"  
  
"Karma, huh?" Logan commented, moving behind her and rubbing her neck. "Take my bed if you want, it's a lot more comfortable than the couch." 


	13. chapter 13

Max sighed as Logan's hands worked some of the kinks out of her neck. She bent her head down, giving him more room. it was weird, his hands were kind of rough. Not what she expected. She had always pictured Logan as being so gentle, and Alec as being the rough one. Alec had never been rough with her so far, but then, she had never asked him for a neck rub. She smiled slightly, making a mental note to ask him to do just that, merely for comparison, of course.  
  
Logan saw her smile, and grinned himself. This was going to be a lot easier than he thought. "Go on" he told her, "Take my bed, I'll wake you in a few hours"  
  
Max sighed. "I'm awake now, I'll never go back to sleep. Why don't I take over for a while?"  
  
Logan nodded. "Help yourself"  
  
she pulled away from him and sat at the computer, opening the next file.  
  
  
  
Alec was quietly getting drunk. He was leaning against a wall, watching Shay and Storm try to figure out how to play pool. They were learning pretty quick. Storm sunk two balls with one shot, and turned to grin at Alec. Alec raised his bottle to him, then took another mouthful. The game ended, Storm sinking the final shot, and the two came back over to join him.  
  
"When I was on the outside" Shay started talking slowly, "I went into this house, to find different clothes. I found this room, think it belonged to a kid my age. There was so much stuff in it. Games, Toys, books. I wanted to stay there"  
  
Storm nodded. "When we first escaped, I spent hours watching tv, days even, just flicking back and forward between channels. The stories they have, they're pretty amazing. Humans can't be that bad if they create stories like that."  
  
"What about you?" Shay asked Alec. "What was the best thing for you about being among the humans?"  
  
Alec shrugged, taking another mouthful. "Don't know"  
  
"alcohol" Storm commented for him.  
  
"music" Alec replied, glaring at Storm.  
  
"Seriously?" Shay stared at him. "Music?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"To play, or to listen to?" Storm asked.  
  
"Both. There was a piano at Joshua's, played it a few times. It was alright. So, Storm, reckon you can beat me?" he nodded towards the pool table.  
  
  
  
Nothing. 6 hours of searching through drone tapes, and nothing. Max sighed, standing up. She picked up her cell phone, and dialled the number Dix had given her. He answered on the second ring.  
  
"find anything?" he asked her.  
  
"No. none of the tapes show anything. figure anything out at your end?"  
  
"No. nothing here. You coming back soon?" Max heard something in his tone, but she couldn't figure out what it was. It was like he wanted to say something, but didn't dare to.  
  
"Looks like it. Seen Alec this morning?" she asked casually.  
  
Dix laughed. "No, not likely. He went out with Storm and Shay last night, playing pool or something. So, you're coming back soon? Its just, I need to alert the guards if you're coming through."  
  
Max grinned, shaking her head. Okay, that was definitely a hint. "Yeah, tell them I'll be back in an hour or so."  
  
"Will do."  
  
Max hung up, and turned to Logan, who was lying on the couch, half asleep. "You're going back?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah. There's so much to do there."  
  
"Other people can handle it." He told her, standing up and crossing the room to her.  
  
"I know, but I've taken on the responsibility, I have to see it through. Do you have any other contacts you could try for information?"  
  
he shrugged. "I have this one contact, high up in border control. If they moved the kid by truck, they had to go through some check points. There may be records."  
  
"Can you check?" she asked, hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do. If you come back tonight, I may have something."  
  
Max nodded. "Okay. Tonight. About midnight?"  
  
"I'll be waiting." Logan told her, smiling.  
  
Max walked slowly into Alec's apartment, and crossed to the bedroom. she stood there for a moment, enjoying the view of Alec, lying on his back, wearing nothing but boxers, his arm thrown over his head. "Hey" she whispered softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. Alec muttered something, and shifted closer to her on the bed.  
  
"Alec?" she tried again, touching his leg gently. His eyes snapped open and he turned to face her. "Hey, what time is it?" he asked  
  
"not sure. Early." Alec closed his eyes again. "I thought you were going to stay there. Thought you weren't coming back til later."  
  
"Had things to do here" she told him, placing her hand on his stomach. Why did he doubt her? She had made her choice, had left Logan for him, and still he didn't trust her.  
  
Without opening his eyes, Alec reached down and covered her hand with his to hold it in place.  
  
"Did you find anything?" he asked  
  
"No. nothing. I got your message about the debrief." Her tone held something, almost accusatory. Alec smiled. "Logan, and me, we're not that close, you know. I didn't want him to answer the phone."  
  
"Really?" Max smiled, moving her hand slightly, causing Alec to breath in sharply. "You two could just get on, you know, bury the hatchet" Alec smiled, having a nice mental image of exactly where he could bury it. Very deeply.  
  
"What?" she asked him.  
  
"He hates me. I kind of stole his girlfriend from him." Alec stroked her hand with his thumb.  
  
"really" she commented  
  
"Yeah, he wasn't treating her right." Alec muttered "Don't take this the wrong way, please, but can we not talk about him while we're on my bed? it's kind of. weird." Disgusting. Revolting, were the words that came to his mind, but he was too smart to say that out loud. No way would she let him get away with that.  
  
"So, we should change the subject?" she asked him, smiling  
  
"Or not talk at all" he sat up and shifted position so that he was behind her. Moving her hair to one side, he kissed her neck lightly. Max smiled, and leaned back into him, running her hand up his leg. He wrapped his arms around her, moving them under her shirt. Her grip tightened on his leg, and she turned her head to face him. her lips met his as he leaned back down onto the bed, pulling her with him.  
  
  
  
"Two" Mole counted, grinning at Storm. It was almost lunchtime, and the two were sitting on top of a building, a couple of sandwiches and a box of ammo between them.  
  
"nah, only partial points. You only clipped the damn thing" he replied, tracking the out of control disk and shooting it down. "I'm claiming partial credit for that one."  
  
Mole shrugged. "there's a lot less of them about now"  
  
"that's cause we took most of them out" Storm replied, reloading. "Listen, man, we kind of have a favour to ask of you"  
  
"We?" Mole lay his rifle down, and looked over at Storm.  
  
"Me and Shay. We want to get hold of something. Kind of like a present. How's your black market going?"  
  
"Depends what you're after."  
  
"A piano" Mole shrugged. "Can't exactly slip that in your pocket. May take some time. It'll cost ya. Who's it for?"  
  
"Alec."  
  
"Tomorrow okay?"  
  
Storm grinned. "How much we talking, here?"  
  
"Forget it. Alec wants a toy, he gets it. Saved my ass a few times."  
  
"Yeah, mine too." Storm picked up his rifle again, and scanned the area. 


	14. chapter 14

White dropped the file on his desk. Seven more transgenics had been captured trying to get into Seattle. For some reason, they were trying to join their fellow freaks in Terminal City. maybe they all had a wish to die together, for this could not end any other way. A knock came at his door, and he looked up, not saying anything. if they entered, he would talk to them. If they didn't, well, it couldn't be that important. The door opened. A tall woman in a white lab coat entered, and moved towards the couch, throwing herself down on it.  
  
"Like to sit down?" White offered sarcastically.  
  
"Your son" she told him "Is a complete enigma. Does he talk to you?"  
  
"Not really" White replied, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "He hasn't really spoken to me since we rescued him."  
  
"He seems confused." The doctor told him. "The transgenics, they got to him somehow. Hypnosis, maybe. He knows that he is one of us, a familiar, and he wants to be with us, but when I mention the transgenic leader, 494, I feel absolute respect and loyalty from him."  
  
"494 isn't the leader. 452 is." White corrected.  
  
"Nevertheless, it is 494's name that he reacts to. He thinks of him as 'Alec'"  
  
"Yes, the human name he gave himself. Do you think they hypnotised him to have that reaction? It would explain a lot. What he was doing at the Site with the transgenics, for example."  
  
The doctor nodded.  
  
"I'll keep working with him. if they hypnotised him, then maybe they trusted him, spoke in front of him. he may give us some information."  
  
  
  
he tried to concentrate on his breathing, tried to forget that everything he saw was white, so white that it hurt his eyes to look at the wall. Or, through the wall, because he really wasn't sure where the wall began and the white ended. There were voices coming from somewhere. He didn't recognise them, but he did recognise two words they were saying. Words he had heard many times before. Duty. Mission. Words that had been drilled into him at Manticore. He knew he was dreaming, but could he be dreaming of Manticore? He couldn't remember anything like that there. The voices stopped, and if it were possible, the room got even brighter. He started to scream as the light became physically painful. But he couldn't hear himself.  
  
Alec rolled over, reaching for Max in his sleep. She moved closer to him, smiling as his strong arms tightened around her. She stroked his arm lightly, watching him smile. Max closed her eyes again, and tried to think. Something felt wrong. Not being here, not being with Alec, that felt good, safe. But something else. She had a strange feeling that she didn't like. She sighed, and nudged Alec.  
  
"Hmm?" he muttered, refusing to open his eyes.  
  
"You awake?"  
  
"No" his arms tightened slightly around her.  
  
"I keep thinking about what that team found. The white room? what do you think it means?"  
  
Alec stiffened, opening his eyes. "I don't want to think about that. I don't know."  
  
"Why? I asked Dix if he knew what it was, and he made some stupid comment"  
  
"Can we talk about something else?" Alec asked, leaning over to kiss her neck.  
  
"Why?" she asked, sitting up. Alec sighed, and closed his eyes again.  
  
"Why not?" he responded, trying to keep his tone light. Max glared at him.  
  
"Why won't you answer my question?" her voice grew angry. "There could be something here. The way you all react when I mention it, you know something that could help, and you're not sharing. I want to know why."  
  
Alec reached his hand towards her, running a finger down her arm. "I don't know anything. okay? Can we drop it?"  
  
"Tell me" it sounded almost like an order. Well, Alec thought to himself, at least he was on familiar ground. He was used to Max being pissed off with him. he watched her closely.  
  
"Damnit, you all expect me to lead you, yet when I ask for information, you don't give it." She pulled away from him, moving off the bed and going to stand by the window. She stared out over the city, her city, and frowned.  
  
Alec sighed. Yep, emotional blackmail. It did the trick every time. "It wasn't so much that room, as the kind of memories it brought up." Max turned to look at him.  
  
"In Psy Ops, they had this room. it was part of the experiments they did, later became part of re-indoctrination. The room was completely black. Being in there, it was like you were drowning. Or like you just didn't exist. There was nothing there. Guys used to scream, for hours on end, just to hear their own voices, remind themselves that they existed.  
  
Max was silent for a minute. It sounded to her like Alec was speaking from first hand knowledge. "Was. Dix. ever put in that room?" she asked, slowly  
  
"I don't know. maybe. Not the kind of thing you talk about down at the bar with your friends"  
  
she nodded, turning back to look at him. Alec was staring at the ceiling, his face thoughtful. She felt a stab of guilt. "Hey, how's the leg?" she asked suddenly. Alec shook his head slightly, and glanced over at her.  
  
"Fine, why?" he asked, a faint smile on his face.  
  
"Well, neither of us have done any training in a few days. Think you can handle a little light sparring?"  
  
"bring it on" he grinned, laughing as he caught a shirt that she threw at him. Max smiled.  
  
  
  
"Now, remember, if you need to rest, or anything, its okay" Max told him, settling into a fighting pose. Alec looked at her, his eyebrows raised.  
  
"You know, because you're still, uh, hurt, and all"  
  
Yep, he thought, that was definitely sarcastic. He smiled at her. "Gonna keep delaying the inevitable?"  
  
"Have to make you feel better about yourself" she taunted. "At least this way, you can say the fight went longer than a few seconds"  
  
"Bring it on" he commented, faking a high roundhouse to her head. Max fell for it, moving back slightly, putting herself slightly off balance. Alec spun, lifting his foot in a side kick that would have sent her flying back several feet, had he not pulled it at the last second.  
  
"Don't play games, Alec. If you can hit me, do it. I will" she commented, illustrating this by dropping to the ground, sweeping his foot out from under him. Alec fell to the ground, then flipped himself back to his feet. He shook his head, and grinned. Fine, if that was what she wanted. He started to focus on the fight, reacting to her moves, taking a few shots when he could, but mostly just letting his body react to what was happening. The fight got faster, the kicks getting harder, neither of them thinking any more about holding back. Max moved in towards him to block a strike, and floored him with a body rip to his side. Alec bent over, and as she moved to finish him off, he grabbed her arm and flipped her to the ground. "Point to me" he commented. She shrugged. "Best of ten, right?" she asked. He nodded, reaching a hand down to help her up.  
  
"Round two?" he asked.  
  
Logan leaned against the wall, watching. He had meant to interrupt them after the first round, but something made him hold back, wanting to see what would happen. In all honesty, he wanted to see Max kick Alec's ass, which he was sure would happen. Alec just wasn't that good a fighter. He watched them square off again, and laughed slightly as Alec wore a kick to the head. His expression quickly turned to disgust as Alec grabbed her leg, and sent her back down to the ground. If he hurt her. But Max was moving, flipping her lower body off the ground somehow, wrapping her legs around Alec's neck, and pulling him to the ground also. Alec fell on top of Max, pinning her arms above her head. Logan's expression turned angry. This was no longer fighting. This was becoming something else.  
  
"Hey" he called, stepping into the lot. Max and Alec both paused, and looked over to him. "Oh, good" Alec commented, not moving. "Alec" Max admonished, trying to push him aside. He refused to move, enjoying the expression on Logan's face at seeing him lying on top of Max. Alec shifted position slightly, so that he was more firmly on top of Max.  
  
"Logan" he commented. "We're kind of in the middle of something"  
  
Logan's face dropped, and he took a step forward. "Alec!" Max warned, shoving him to the side, so that she could stand up.  
  
Alec rolled onto his back, grinning, but trying to hide it. This was going to be so much fun. 


	15. chapter 15

"Max, can we talk?" Logan asked, glaring over at Alec. Alec smiled innocently, flipping himself to his feet in one fluid movement, then moved to stand behind Max. probably closer than was truly necessary, but, oh well. The look on Logan's face was priceless.  
  
"did you find anything?" Max asked eagerly, stepping forward half a pace to signal to Alec to back off. He didn't move.  
  
"Yeah, its kind of classified." Logan said pointedly, staring in Alec's direction. Alec turned innocently to look behind him, looking for some eavesdroppers. He turned back. "We're good" he told Logan. Max bit her lip, hard. She reached behind her, and pushed Alec back slightly. Logan looked at the ground, then back up again. "Max, seriously. The informant I got this from is deep within the organization" Alec smirked, and Logan pointedly ignored him "I said I would keep it as confidential as possible, not to reveal anything that might lead to his identification" Logan continued.  
  
Alec laughed. "We should use codenames then" he tried for a straight face. Didn't work. "Your informant could be 'deep throat', and we could call you, uh, starfu." he took a quick step back as Max turned to him.  
  
"Go away" she told him. It was Logan's turn to smile sweetly.  
  
"Fine" Alec commented. "Not like I won't find out soon anyway." He turned away, walking off slowly. "Max, stop laughing." He whispered as he left, his voice low enough that only Max could hear him.  
  
  
  
"Storm!" Mole called, throwing a pen in his direction. Storm turned in the direction the pen had come from. "Huh?"  
  
"Got something you should see" Storm shrugged and walked over to him. "This is Doom" Mole gestured to a fanged, red eyes transgenic who stood beside him.  
  
"Hey" Storm greeted, glancing over at Mole, confused.  
  
"Doom just finished reading a book on piano repair." Mole grinned slightly.  
  
"Great," Storm grinned sarcastically back at him. "If we had a piano, Doom could fix it"  
  
"Shut up, junior" Mole replied.  
  
"So.?" Storm asked, jumping up onto a table. "Why do we need to know how to fix a piano, when we don't have a piano?"  
  
Mole just grinned back at him, lighting a cigar.  
  
"Like hell." Storm commented. He looked at Mole, waiting to hear a punch- line. It didn't come. "You seriously got a piano in here? Without being caught?"  
  
"More or less"  
  
"Prove it"  
  
"let's go" Mole nodded to Doom, who followed him out the door. Storm shrugged, and followed. This was bound to have entertainment value. When they reached Alec's apartment, however, he started to think hard. Was it possible? Nah. Mole could not seriously have gotten a piano into TC. And even if he had, Alec's apartment was on the top floor. A decent piano would not fit up that staircase.  
  
Logan motioned Max over to a couple of crates. Sitting on one, he turned to her. "So, what did you find out?" she asked him.  
  
"well it took me a while, but I managed to get into contact with an old informant, a guy who works for the sector police. He remembers a van coming through his checkpoint not long after the time and date you gave me. The driver handed over FBI ID. Thing that made him remember, was that the van hadn't come into the sector through that checkpoint. The FBI are usually pretty pedantic about using the same routes." Logan watched her carefully, trying to read her face, to tell if she believed his lie. Max looked at the ground for a minute, then up at him.  
  
"We can track it, then, right?" she asked, starting to get excited. "If we have a license plate number, we can get further records from sector police, find out where they went?"  
  
Logan nodded. "My informant couldn't get any more information than that. But, he does know where the central records are kept. The headquarters in sector 4, all the records are stored in a computer there. If we can get in, we can get the information, it should tell us where the van went. Where they took your friend."  
  
Max nodded. "Okay, give me the location. I'll put a mission together."  
  
"I'm coming" Logan told her. Max shook her head. "It's too dangerous, Logan. This is my problem, its my fault that Tim was taken, I have to make this right."  
  
Logan reached towards her and took her hand. "It used to be, that things were OUR problem. and technically, you're wrong. The mistake on the mission was Alec's. you know that. He acts before he thinks. He always has. He takes chances, and sometimes, things go wrong."  
  
"No" Max replied. "It wasn't Alec's fault. We had almost zero lead time on that mission. We all had to improvise."  
  
"Then how is it your fault?" Logan tightened his grip on her hand. "I had the clues before anyone. The answer to everything we were doing, Sandeman's plan, I should have figured it out. I was meant to lead, Sandeman assigned that role to me. And Tim was taken."  
  
"Max, listen to me" Logan touched her face, turning it towards him. "Mistakes happen on missions. You all knew the risks, you chose to continue anyway. You just said as much yourself. Nothing that happened was your responsibility. This, however, the rescue mission, is. The two of us, we can complete this mission. You can get us in, I can hack the computer, get the information I need."  
  
"it's too risky. I'd want at least two others, to act as guards."  
  
"Who?" Logan stood up, pacing. "Alec?" he turned to stare at her. "Max, come on. You saw what he was like before, you were kicking his ass. He was never in your league, anyway, but he definitely isn't now. he's hurt, Max. I can see it, you can see it. Taking him on a mission would jeopardise it. Then, the things that go wrong will be your fault."  
  
Max nodded. He had a point. She didn't have to like it, but he did have a point. She gave in. "When do you want to do it?"  
  
"Tonight. Around two, three in the morning. There won't be anyone there. We can be in and out. No-one will know."  
  
  
  
Storm laughed as he took a seat on Alec's couch. "I'm impressed." He said. "Seriously. I'm impressed." He looked over at the piano and shook his head. If he hadn't already closely examined it, it would have appeared perfectly normal to him. yet, he knew it wasn't. around the back of the piano, Doom lay on the ground, adjusting a wire.  
  
"Try it" he called, and Mole struck a black key. Doom swore. "The white one, you moron. This one" he pulled on the wire, and a white key lowered slightly.  
  
"Sorry" Mole pressed down on the key, and a soft sound filled the room. "Flat" Doom commented. "Try again" Mole hit the key again.  
  
"Got it" Doom stood up. "I think it's good" he replaced the top and back of the piano, and ran his hand over the top of it.  
  
Mole grinned. "We just need to tie a ribbon around it."  
  
"Are you going to tell me, or what?" Storm asked.  
  
Mole shrugged, and took a seat. "Wasn't that hard. Sent an X on a recon mission, found the thing in some rich guys apartment. Stole it" Mole shrugged, like it was no big deal.  
  
"How do you get a piano out of a building?" Storm had to know.  
  
"There are these things, humans call them service lifts. You wheel the piano into one, hit a button, and the lift goes down to the parking lot on the basement. Next, you wheel the piano into a van. And leave." Mole laughed, throwing Storm a beer. "No problem"  
  
"And then you stripped it down, and smuggled it into TC?"  
  
"Not bad, junior. Yeah, in about twelve different pieces. The wooden sides and top were the hardest to get in, but, here at Manticore, we love a challenge."  
  
"I'm impressed" Storm had nothing else to say.  
  
"Me too." The three of them spun in the direction of the voice. Alec stood in his doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms folded.  
  
"Uh, hey, Alec. What's going on?" Storm asked.  
  
"I could ask you the same thing." Alec walked into the room, and stared pointedly at the piano.  
  
"Happy birthday" Mole commented  
  
"It's not my birthday" Alec replied, his eyes locked on the piano.  
  
"You know what? We bought you a present. You could at least pretend its your birthday. You could say thanks"  
  
Alec stepped closer to the piano, lifting the lid. He looked over at Doom, questioningly. "Tuned it myself" the transgenic replied. Alec pressed down on a key lightly, and smiled at the sound. He tried another. And another. With one finger, he played a slow jazzy tune. Doom slid a seat over to him, and he sat down without taking his eyes of the keyboard. He moved his left hand up to the keys and started to play faster. He purposely syncopated the beat, inserting jazz refrains, everything the opposite of what Manticore had taught him. a slow grin spread over his face.  
  
On the couch, Storm grinned at Mole, and nodded towards the door. It was time for them to leave. Mole nodded to Doom, and moved to the door, the transgenic trailing him. Storm grabbed a bottle of beer, and opened it, placing it on top of the piano. Alec stopped playing long enough to look at him and nod. "You're gonna teach me that, sometime, right?" Storm asked. "Yeah" Alec nodded. "No problem."  
  
"Have fun" Storm grinned, and headed for the door.  
  
"Thanks" Alec commented. "Oh, and Mole?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Logan's in the parking lot." Alec turned towards the door, one hand tapping out the theme song to 'Jaws' on the piano.  
  
Mole's entire face lit up. "I love you, man" he told Alec, tapping Storm on the shoulder.  
  
"Same here" Alec turned back to the keyboard, grinning. "Happy hunting, man." 


	16. chapter 16

"Logan!" Mole greeted, moving forward, a wide grin on his face. "How's it going, Man? Find your way in here okay? No problems?" he continued with false sincerity.  
  
Logan looked over at him briefly, then turned back to Max. "So, I think what we need to do, is go over the plans now. I have the blueprints to the building back at my apartment."  
  
"Wow! Are we planning a mission?" Mole continued, his voice sarcastic, childlike. "Cool, can I be a part of it too?"  
  
"No. everything is fine" Logan told him, frowning, smart enough to figure out that something was going on, but not knowing what.  
  
"Everything seem fine to you, Storm?" Mole turned to his friend. Storm looked around and shrugged. "No, something's not quite right"  
  
"Yeah, I know. there's something missing here." Mole looked around slowly, turning 360 degrees, as if looking for something. Max sighed. What the hell?  
  
"Got it!" Mole grinned widely. "I know what's missing!"  
  
"What?" Logan sighed.  
  
"Alec."  
  
"Alec?"  
  
"Yeah, Alec. See, he told me that if I laid a finger on you, that he would kill me. Yet, he doesn't seem to be here. Oops."  
  
Logan looked back at him. Alec had ordered them not to touch him? That bastard. Just like Alec to set this up, make himself look good in front of Max. So noble, to steal his girlfriend, then protect him from the freaks that lived here. Pretend to protect him anyway. The order seemed clear enough. don't touch Logan in front of me. Don't do anything that will get me in trouble with Max. Might as well have just put up a sign saying open season.  
  
"Why don't you go back to Alec, and tell him that if he has a problem with me, to come and say it to my face?"  
  
Storm laughed. He couldn't help it. Logan was trying to act so tough, and failing so badly. "Can I?" he asked Mole. "Seriously? I could go tell Alec now, won't take long."  
  
Max sighed, watching the scene. This was annoying. "Mole" she spoke quietly. "Come here a minute." She walked away several paces, and waited for him to follow.  
  
"Something wrong, Max?" Mole asked innocently.  
  
"Stop pushing him." she told him firmly. "I know you don't like him. Fine. I don't care. But we need him. he has information right now, that we need to have. I want Tim back. Logan can help us, but if you piss him off, he won't."  
  
"And that's my problem with him." Mole replied. "It shouldn't matter, don't you see? It shouldn't matter that I piss him off. If he can help, he should anyway. No matter what. It's called friendship."  
  
"Friendship isn't always that easy." Max told him.  
  
"Yeah. It is. And don't tell me that because I'm a freak, I can't know what it feels like to have a friend."  
  
"I wasn't going to" she shook her head. "Mole, I consider you a friend. I hope you know that."  
  
He looked at her and nodded briefly. "Then stop trusting him so much, Max. he doesn't think of friendship the way we do. To him its not a gift, but a tool, to be utilised."  
  
"Mole, I'm going on a mission tonight. With Logan. We're going to get information, and we're going to use that information to rescue Tim. I trust Logan."  
  
"You going to tell Alec before you go?" he turned and walked away, gesturing Storm to follow him.  
  
"What was that about?" Logan asked.  
  
"Nothing, just Mole being Mole. So, you think we should go in at about 2am?"  
  
"Yeah, but we need to go over the blueprints first, plan it out."  
  
"Okay" Max nodded. "I'll meet you at your place at about 1. theres some stuff I need to take care of first."  
  
  
  
Max climbed the stairs slowly. She could hear music playing, which seemed strange. They didn't have electricity, which meant no tv. Besides, the music was kind of classical, jazzy, not like the usual stuff Alec listened to on MTV. She entered the room and stopped dead. Alec had gotten himself a piano from somewhere. She watched as he ran his fingers expertly over the keys, his head moving slightly as he concentrated. The music was phenomenal. She moved forward slowly, not wanting to disturb him, not wanting the music to stop. It was strange music, one minute happy, light, then in one beat it would change and dark undertones would creep into it. He paused in his playing, switching to something fast, his hands racing over the keys almost in a blur. "Hey Max" he spoke. "Play something slow" she asked him. Alec shrugged, dropping the tempo.  
  
Max rested her hand on his shoulder, watching his fingers dance over the keys, the expression on his face as he created something beautiful, a tune so incredible that Max's breath caught in her throat. Alec stopped playing and turned around on the chair to face her. "What's going on?"  
  
"I need to talk to you about something" she told him.  
  
"Logan, huh? what now?" Alec reached for her hands, and pulled her closer to him, moving her between his legs. Max smiled, and moved her hands to his shoulders.  
  
"He's got some information from the sector police, clues as to where they may have taken Tim."  
  
Alec grinned, then looked questioningly at her. "But?" he asked  
  
"What do you mean, but?" she asked, confused.  
  
"we're talking about Logan. There's always a hidden agenda. What is it this time? The two of you have to go alone, I can't go?"  
  
Max nodded. "He's worried that you're still hurt" He laughed. "Like hell. Logan worried about my health? Not likely. Probably more worried about getting you alone somewhere"  
  
Max smiled slightly. "that sounds slightly like jealousy"  
  
Alec stood, his hands moving to her hips and pulling her waist towards him. he lowered his mouth to kiss her neck, then whispered in her ear "Should I be?"  
  
Max moved her hand up to the back of his neck. Her fingers brushing his barcode, she held his head against her. "I'm here, aren't I?" she told him.  
  
"So" Alec pulled away from her, sitting back down on the stool. "I get to sit at home and watch out the window for you to return?" his tone was joking, but his eyes were hard. He did not like this. it felt wrong. Of course it felt wrong. Logan was involved. And he got to sit there and wait, and pray that the Blue Lady did not give up in disgust and go side with White.  
  
"Alec, you're not 100% yet. You know that."  
  
"Neil says I'm fine" he told her. "Do I look hurt to you?" he smiled slowly at her. Max laughed.  
  
"How's the leg? Seriously? She asked him, resting her hand on his knee.  
  
"It's fine. Want to check for yourself?"  
  
She smacked him on the shoulder. "I have a couple of hours before I need to go get prepared for this raid. You want to spend it arguing?"  
  
Alec frowned, biting his lip in thought. "Would it make you understand how dangerous I think it is to trust anything Logan has to say without clarification from 50 different sources?"  
  
"No" she told him.  
  
"Fine. I won't bother. But, Max? if something, anything goes wrong with this mission, I'm blaming him. okay?"  
  
"Nothing will go wrong" she told him, her hand stroking his leg as she moved closer to him. "Logan should hope not." 


	17. chapter 17

Authors Note: this is the R rated version of the original chapter. For the full, NC-17 version, if you are old enough, it is available at NWP- http://nunswithpens.hyperboards.com  
  
  
  
"I was trained in the same place you were, remember? Even have the barcode to prove it." Max told him, smiling.  
  
"Its not you I don't trust" he told her, putting his hands on her hips, and drawing him closer to him. "I know you can take care of yourself."  
  
"Logan's not going to try anything stupid" Max told him. Alec shook his head, smiling up at her. "Of course he is. Its what he does"  
  
"Alec." Max sighed in frustration.  
  
"You're talking about him. not me. I'm just pointing out the flaws in your mission plan."  
  
"No, you're just being annoying." She told him, running a hand through his hair, resting it at the back of his neck. "And Logan on the mission does not constitute a flaw."  
  
"No, it constitutes a disaster" he laughed, as she moved her hand to hit his shoulder. He grabbed it in his, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss her fingers gently.  
  
Max gave up. She moved to straddle him, her legs on either side of him. Alec's hand went back to her hip to steady her as she moved. And also to pull her in closer to him. he leaned forward and kissed her lightly. Max pressed closer to him, deepening the kiss, her tongue slipping inside his mouth against his. She groaned in frustration as Alec remained almost passive, kissing her lightly, his hands barely touching her hips. "You are from Manticore, right?" she asked him, pulling back slightly. "You know, violence, pain?"  
  
Alec laughed. "You saying you like it rough?" She kissed him harder, and finally he responded, his mouth hard against hers, bruising her. Max groaned, and ground her hips against his. "Max" he muttered, wrapping his arms around her as he stood up. She gasped as he lifted her easily and carried her into the bedroom. He lowered her onto the bed, his mouth never leaving hers. Max tightened her legs around him, pulling him hard against her, and she rolled them over, wanting to be on top.  
  
Max sat up, watching him. Alec lay on the bed, watching her. His eyes were almost completely black with desire, and she could hear his breathing growing faster as she watched him, as she moved lightly against him. He bit his lip, moving to sit up, get closer to her, but she pushed him back down. Alec shrugged, smiling slightly, and waited. Max moved her hands to his waist, pulling his shirt from his jeans, and pushing it up. Alec lifted his body off the bed to allow her to remove it, then lay back down, his arms moving back to her hips. Max lowered her head and kissed his stomach, her tongue tasting him, feeling him shudder against her. She slowly moved up his body, her hands and her mouth exploring him. when she reached his chest, her mouth moved to the bullet wound there. It was almost healed, but still red, and she kissed the mark gently, drawing a groan from Alec.  
  
"you okay?" she asked him. He laughed. "Not even slightly" he told her. She looked at him quickly. "My heart's racing" he told her, taking her hand and pressing it against his chest. She stroked his skin lightly, before bending to kiss the same spot. "I feel like I can't breathe" he continued, moving her hand to his neck. She leaned forward, quickly, biting at his neck, marking him as belonging to her.  
  
"It feels like a dream." He told her. "Being here with you, it still feels like a dream. I don't know whether to lie here real still, so I don't wake up, or just accept it as a dream for as long as it lasts."  
  
Max looked down at him, her breath caught in her throat. Then she grinned. She moved down his body, running her hand over his jeans, feeling the hardness there. Alec groaned. "Still want to do nothing?" she asked him, slowly undoing the zip, and slipping her hand between his jeans and his boxers.  
  
"No" Alec gasped, moving his hips up against her, his hands moving to pull her shirt off. She pulled away from him slightly to help him and pulled his jeans and boxers down, before moving back on top of him.  
  
  
  
Max looked over at him. Alec lay on his back, his eyes closed, his leg brushing against hers. Softly, she stroked the hair back away from his eyes. "Hmm?" he muttered, opening his eyes, and she was drowning in their depths.  
  
"I have to go" she whispered. "No" Alec told her, pulling her on top of him. "Not yet." He raised his head and kissed her, pulling her down harder against him.  
  
"Alec, we need to plan the mission before we go. Get rid of any flaws"  
  
"You hit him, and I'll throw him through the window"  
  
"Alec!" she told him, slapping him. he laughed.  
  
"Look," he told her. "go in through the second story window. There's only one guard, he does one rotation every two hours."  
  
Max sat up quickly, and Alec grinned as she pressed against him again. "How the hell.?" she asked him.  
  
he laughed. "I'm just really, really good" he told her.  
  
"Seriously"  
  
"Lot of transgenics around. they tend to hear a lot of things." He shrugged. "And then, they tell me about it."  
  
She continued to look at him "Come on, Max. Mole has this thing, he doesn't like Logan. Did you notice?" Max shook her head. "Alec."  
  
"Fine. He had the guards alert him when Logan entered TC. Then, he had someone trail him. within about 2 minutes of him saying where you were going tonight, I had a full report on guard rotation, entrances, everything."  
  
"We're that organised?"  
  
"Yeah" Alec shrugged. "Well, not really. But, sector police? One of our top priorities. I can even give you the computer passwords if you want them."  
  
She laughed, and kissed him lightly. "I owe you" she told him.  
  
"I still can't go, though, huh?" he looked pleadingly at her. She laughed. "No."  
  
"Damn" 


	18. chapter 18

"Get Up" Shay's eyes snapped open instantly, and he turned his head, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. "Alec?"  
  
"Yeah. Get dressed. I'll be in the lounge" Alec turned and left, heading into the other room. A lot of the younger transgenics had been assigned barrack like accommodation, with older types to keep an eye on them, help them assimilate. Storm had the room next door, and Alec entered that one too, repeating his message.  
  
Thirty seconds later, the two of them stood in the lounge, instantly alert, facing Alec. "Tired?" he asked, as Shay hid a yawn.  
  
"No" he replied instantly, grinning. If Alec had something planned, there was no way that he was going to be left out.  
  
"You up for a mission?" Alec asked him. "Say no if you don't feel right. I won't hold it against you, you've been through a lot lately."  
  
Shay raised his head to look directly into Alec's eyes. "What do you want me to do?"  
  
Alec gestured to the couch, and took a seat himself. Storm and Shay followed. "You heard about Logan's little mission tonight?"  
  
Storm nodded. "We trailing them?" he asked eagerly  
  
"Nah. Whatever shit Logan pulls, he won't endanger Max. and she can take care of herself with the rest of it. They will however, be pretty busy for a few hours."  
  
Shay grinned. "Little B&E huh?"  
  
"Well, not exactly. I mean, entering, sure, but we don't have to break in. He's staying at Joshua's, and I have a key."  
  
"Logan know about that?"  
  
"Don't care."  
  
Storm nodded. His thoughts exactly.  
  
  
  
Max stood outside the building, looking up at it, scanning for entrances. Alec had talked about the second storey window. It looked shut, probably locked, but if Alec had said it was open, well, it would be. Beside her, Logan shifted impatiently.  
  
"Stop it" she whispered. "Max, there's no-one in there, okay? My source said it was clear."  
  
Max shrugged. Her source said it wouldn't be. And she knew who she would be believing. "Blame my training." She replied quietly. "Always check for yourself. Intell has a very limited shelf-life."  
  
"There!" she whispered a few minutes later. From one of the windows on the third floor, a flicker of light could be seen. "Flashlight" she muttered.  
  
"What? But my source was very clear. He said that the guards went of duty at midnight."  
  
Max shrugged. "And yet there's a light." She watched the light, waiting for it to move down to the second floor, or up to the fourth. There was nothing they could do until she knew which route the guard was taking.  
  
  
  
Alec put the key in the lock and turned it. Easy. He turned to grin at Shay. "not as much fun as breaking in, huh?"  
  
"Oh well" Shay shrugged. "I'm sure we can find something inside to break."  
  
"Yeah" they entered the house, and looked around. Joshua's studio had been turned into a computer laboratory. Various random electronic things were lined up on tables, and across the floor. Alec looked briefly at some of it, but he really wasn't too interested.  
  
"Look around. see what you can find" he told them.  
  
"What exactly are we looking for?" Storm asked.  
  
Alec shrugged. "I don't trust him. I never have. And I think that having him anywhere near us is bad. But, Max thinks he's on our side, and I trust her judgement too. I just want to know where he stands."  
  
  
  
"Max, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about" Logan spoke quietly as they watched the building.  
  
"Hmm?" she replied, her eyes scanning the windows for a flashlight.  
  
"I miss us" he said simply. Max dragged her attention away from the window to focus on him.  
  
"when we got that temporary cure, I thought that everything was finally falling into place. Holding you in my arms, it was perfect. But then, when the time ran out, it felt like the universe was against us."  
  
Max nodded. She knew how he felt.  
  
"But I never gave up, Max. we're meant to be together, I know that. And I know that there's a lot of stuff going on right now, I know that you don't have time to do anything but focus on your family, and I understand that. I do. What I'm saying is, I want to help. Any way I can. And when we solve the immediate problem, getting Tim back, I'd really like to spend some time alone with you. Get out of Seattle for a day or so." He smiled at her, and Max smiled too. She looked down and nodded. "I'd like that"  
  
"Alec, check this out" Storm hissed. Alec looked up from some files he had been flipping through.  
  
"What've you got?" he asked, moving over to stand behind Storm, leaning against the chair.  
  
"Logan said he got the information from a source, right? A source at the sector police HQ?"  
  
"Yeah" Alec said, looking over Storm's shoulder at the computer screen, which had been paused. All he could see was an aerial view of a street.  
  
"Not from a hoverdrone?"  
  
"No. him and Max went through all the footage he could get a few days ago. There was nothing on them."  
  
"Yeah. Well, that's not completely accurate. See this? Hoverdrone footage on his computer."  
  
Storm pressed play. Alec vaguely recognised the building from photos he had seen of it.  
  
"Shay" he called, and the other boy looked up. "Yeah?"  
  
Alec gestured him over, then turned his attention back to the screen. A van pulled up to the gate, and was let inside.  
  
"That's where. that's where I was held" Shay said.  
  
"Yeah, and check out the time" Storm commented. "That's the day after you escaped, right?"  
  
"Maybe he didn't see it." Alec said dully. "There's a lot of footage here, a few dozen tapes. This is, what, ten seconds? He may have missed it."  
  
"Alec." Storm turned to face him. "This is the only tape that has been deleted. The others have just been thrown to one side. he tried to erase this. he knew what he had found."  
  
Alec turned and walked away a few paces. He needed to think. His first reaction was to find Logan, and hurt him. it was a simple plan, but a good one. A really good one. He pictured Tim, the day before the mission, sparring with Shay, both of them laughing, having fun even though they knew what was coming the following night. If Logan had given Max the tape, they still wouldn't have found Tim in time, got to him before he was moved, but they would have had a starting point. They would have been able to do something before the trail got too cold. And it was cold now. Max had trusted him. Max believed in him. and he had screwed her over.  
  
First instincts were often the correct response.  
  
He looked over at Storm and Shay, who were staring at him, waiting for him to say something.  
  
"Here's the deal." He told them, stepping towards them. "We were never here tonight. Therefore, we do not have this information. We do not know that Logan fucked us over. We do not talk about this, to anyone. Understand?"  
  
"But, Max." Shay spoke up. "We have to tell her. She thinks Logan is great, she thinks he's on our side, that he's helping us. We have to tell her." Shay felt a surge of anger rush through him. he hated Logan. Logan should just go away, and leave them alone. He should, in particular, leave Max alone. Leave Max and Alec alone.  
  
"No." Alec said firmly. "You know how loyal Max is to her friends. She wouldn't believe us. She wouldn't want to believe us, and so she'll find a way to disregard anything we say. She needs to learn about Logan for herself."  
  
Shay nodded. It didn't make sense to him, not really, but he didn't know Max as well as Alec did.  
  
"Go back to TC. I'll talk to you tomorrow"  
  
"Where are you going?" Storm asked eagerly. "Need backup?"  
  
Alec shook his head. "Nah, I got this one covered. It's about time we had a discussion, and tonight seems about as good as any."  
  
After they left, Alec took a seat on the couch, facing the door. He sat in the darkness, and waited. 


	19. chapter 19

About an hour later, Alec heard a noise from outside the door. A key turning in the lock. He listened hard, but could only hear the sound of one person. Max couldn't be with him. good. That made things a lot easier. The door opened, and a shadow moved inside. "Don't turn the light on" Alec spoke softly. Logan jumped.  
  
"Alec?" he asked, turning around, trying to find the source of the voice.  
  
"Logan"  
  
"What the hell?" Logan asked, turning on the light despite Alec's warning. Alec moved his foot, and kicked a chair across the room.  
  
"Have a seat"  
  
Logan sat down, his eyes searching Alec's face, trying to figure out what was going on. Alec stared back at him giving nothing away.  
  
"So, uh, what's going on?" Logan asked.  
  
"You tell me"  
  
Logan was starting to get worried. This was not what he was used to from Alec. Alec always had some kind of expression on his face, happy, sarcastic, whatever. There was always a way to read his face. Now, there was no expression whatsoever. Alec had gone from being an annoying screwup to someone who, well, scared him.  
  
Alec watched him, feeling his face settle into a mask. Manticore had taught him well. How to get information in interrogation sessions was a lesson that he had learnt well. And right now, that lesson was being put to very good use. Logan had this weird expression on his face. Deer caught in the headlights didn't quite cover it. Deer caught in the headlights of a steamroller may be a bit closer. Alec had to force himself not to laugh, and concentrate on keeping his face straight.  
  
"we got some information from the mission." Logan said carefully.  
  
"Really? From the sector police office, or the hover-drone's?"  
  
Logan's eyes widened in surprise. How the hell had Alec figured that out? He looked around, trying to remember where the door was. He stood up, and turned to the door.  
  
Something hit him in the back, and he turned around. A video lay on the floor. "Whats that?" he asked, pretending he didn't know.  
  
Alec stood, and was standing beside Logan before Logan had even seen him move.  
  
"Cut the crap. You lied to us. You lied to Max. she trusted you, and you lied to her."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking." Logan broke off and gasped as he felt Alec's arm move around his shoulders, and tap his neck lightly. His feet gave way and he started to fall to the ground. Alec grabbed him, his arm going around Logan's neck. "You okay, Buddy?" he asked, concerned. Logan turned to him, his hand clenching into a fist. He swung at Alec, even as Alec tightened his grip on his neck. Alec moved his head lazily to avoid the blow, not that it would have mattered if it had connected. The shot was pretty weak. His left hand slammed into Logan's side, the palm of his hand snapping into Logan's ribs, snapping two of them instantly. He released Logan, and stepped back as he fell to the ground. "If you go running to Max about this" Alec informed him, "It would be very, very bad for you. Understand?"  
  
Logan gasped something in reply.  
  
  
  
Alec let himself into his apartment, closing the door quietly. Max hadn't been in his apartment, and he knew that she wasn't at Logan's. hopefully, she would be there, lying in his bed, waiting for him. He smiled at the image, and moved into his bedroom. His grin broadened as he saw a shape on the bed. he sat down on the edge of the bed, and touched her shoulder gently. Max opened her eyes, and smiled when she saw him. "Hey" she whispered.  
  
"Hey" he replied, running his hand down her arm.  
  
"Where were you?" she asked, moving closer to him, her leg brushing up against him.  
  
"Nowhere. Just out with Shay and Storm. Mission go okay?"  
  
"Hmm. Fine." She sat up and kissed his cheek. "The intel you gave me was perfect. The guard was right where you said." Alec slipped his arm around her shoulder, holding her head against him.  
  
"We aim to please" he told her, lowering his head to rest against hers.  
  
"You're cold" she whispered, shivering slightly against his leather jacket."  
  
"Sorry" he rubbed her arm slightly to warm her.  
  
"come here" she lay back down on the bed and watched him. Alec smiled at her. He shrugged off his jacket, and stood up to remove his jeans and shirt. He slipped into the bed beside her, and pulled her into his arms. "That's better" she muttered, and he laughed.  
  
"So, you think we can find where they've got Tim?" he asked her  
  
"We got some stuff, we can go through it in the morning. There's a trail of paperwork a mile long. Dix has some guys on it right now."  
  
Alec sighed, relaxing for the first time in a long time. If they could find Tim, figure out where they had taken him.  
  
"What?" Max asked, rolling over onto her side to face him.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You're smiling." Alec's smile broadened, his whole face lighting up and he shook his head. "I promised them all a drink after the mission. I kept my word with Shay and Storm, I just owe Tim"  
  
Max smiled, and ran her hand down his chest, watching as he shivered at her touch. "You never gave me a drink" she told him.  
  
"I gave you my heart" he told her, his grin changing to the more familiar sarcastic one. Max stared at him, unsure whether to believe him or not. Alec pulled her on top of him and kissed her, his hand tangling in her hair, pulling her mouth closer to his.  
  
Max shifted on top of him, moulding her body against his, and he groaned into her mouth. He rolled them, moving on top of her, his hand moving down her body to touch her breast. Then, he groaned, and pulled back. "Alec?" Max asked, her hand moving around his waist, running up his back.  
  
"I did something" he told her, shaking his head.  
  
"What?" she asked, seeing the frustration in his eyes.  
  
Alec sighed. "It's hard to explain" particularly since he was lying on top of her, feeling her in his arms, and if he told her, the only thing he would be feeling would be the cold air as he flew through his skylight.  
  
"Its okay, Alec." She told him, lifting her head and kissing him gently. He always took on too much responsibility for things, always blamed himself when things went badly. She had to convince him that that was not necessary.  
  
"It's not" he told her. He bent his head and kissed her, then lowered his body against hers again, kissing her frantically. Max responded to the urgency in his kiss, pulling him down against her, her hands running up his back, her legs moving apart to allow him to get closer to him.  
  
Alec pulled back finally. Max stared into his eyes. "Talk to me" she whispered.  
  
"I had something to do tonight, a mission, intel gathering. The guy, he jerked me around." Alec closed his eyes. "I went after him. I can't even say I lost my temper. I knew what I was doing the whole time."  
  
"Alec, that's what we were trained to do." She reminded him  
  
he sighed, and rolled onto his back. "You don't get it, Max. I enjoyed it. I'm glad I did it." He opened his eyes and turned to look at her. "Does that make me like Ben?" he asked softly. 


	20. chapter 20

Max stared at him, slowly reaching her hand out to touch him. her hand ran down the side of his face, then under his chin, tilting his head so that he was looking straight into her eyes.  
  
"Alec, sometimes we have to do things that normals wouldn't. we have to, to survive." She told him. "It doesn't make us bad. And as for enjoying it," she shrugged. "Its part of our genes. They made us enjoy it, so that we would keep doing it."  
  
"Yeah, well, they succeeded with Ben, then, didn't they?"  
  
"You're not Ben"  
  
"I'm his twin. His clone." Alec sighed. "Sometimes, it feels like, what was wrong with him, it's inside of me too. And any minute, it could come out, like natural instinct."  
  
Max moved her hand slowly behind his neck, tracing his barcode with one finger. "This makes you different from Ben" she told him, increasing the pressure on his neck, pulling him forward towards her. She kissed him lightly. "Come on" she told him, getting out of bed, and grabbing some clothes. Alec rolled onto his side, and watched her, curiously.  
  
"Get up" she told him, throwing his jeans at him. "Let's go"  
  
  
  
"Max, what are we doing?" Alec asked for about the fourth time in two minutes. Max shrugged, and led him into a warehouse.  
  
"What is this place?" he asked, looking around, trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
"Who cares?" Max commented, turning towards him.  
  
"Not to sound like a broken record, Max, but are you ever going to tell me what the Hell is going on?"  
  
Max snapped a high roundhouse kick to his head. Alec took a quick step back, and stared at her. "What?" he asked her. "I feel like training." She told him, taking up a fighting stance. "Going to defend yourself?" she threw a punch at him. Alec deflected it, and retaliated with a shot to the ribs. Max gasped, then smiled. "That's more like it" she told him, starting to move faster, two kicks blurring into one. Alec grinned, as he avoided them, letting his mind relax and his instincts take over. He fought faster forgetting everything except the person he was fighting against and the attacks she was throwing at him. Finally, he saw his opening. With a spin sweep, he took her to the ground, moving over her to pin her down. He stared down at her, before lowering his lips to hers. She kissed him back hungrily, pulling him down against her, feeling his body relax. Max flipped them, moving on top of him, and pulling back.  
  
"It's what we were designed to be" she told him, kissing him lightly. "It's okay to enjoy it" she kissed him again, and he arched up against her, trying to press his body fully against hers.  
  
"Yeah, but."  
  
"You stopped, Alec, okay?" she told him. "You wanted to hurt this guy, you obviously could have killed him easily. Yet you didn't. whether you enjoyed hurting him or not, you stopped. That's what makes you different from Ben."  
  
Alec sighed. Could that be true? he had wanted to kill Logan, had wanted to so badly. But then he had pictured the expression on Max's face on finding out what he had done, and he couldn't bear that. So he had stopped. Would he have stopped anyway, if Max hadn't been a factor? He just didn't know.  
  
"Alec, you're not like him." Max repeated. He nodded slowly.  
  
  
  
Logan lay on his bed, struggling for breath. Damn Alec. What the hell was his problem anyway? To come after him, in his own house, and beat him up for no reason. Why would he do that? The obvious reason was that he was just plain psychotic. It was a reasonable option. He had always thought that Alec was slightly insane, and had thought that, with his help, Max would figure it out pretty soon also. Max. Now, there was another option. Jealousy on Alec's part? Alec had always had a thing for Max. you would have to be blind not to see that. And now, there had been suggestions that something was going on between the two of them. Nothing serious, of course, Max was simply looking for a distraction. He could understand that. Their own relationship hadn't been easy, and she was looking for something casual, no strings attached. Flirtatious, but nothing more. They had probably kissed once or twice, but that would be the end of it. Max was always the cautious type. But Alec, he would have thought it to be a permanent thing. So, if Max had mentioned spending time with him, Logan, again, Alec would have taken it the wrong way. Well, actually the right way, because on the mission tonight, he had gotten a real sense that their relationship wasn't over. Not by a long shot. And the fact that Alec had specifically said not to tell Max, well surely that meant that Alec thought Logan would be seeing Max very soon. Logan grinned to himself, suddenly finding that the pain in his chest really didn't matter. Max was going to be his again. Soon.  
  
  
  
"Hey" Max nudged him. "Paying attention to me?" she had watched him spacing out for a few minutes, and was finding it really frustrating not knowing what was going on inside his mind. Alec grinned up at her, lifting his head to kiss her again. He laughed to himself. Of course wanting to hurt Logan didn't mean he was insane. It was a natural reaction to seeing him. There was just something about the guy that made you want to rip his head off. And jump on the pieces. Insanity is being outside the norm, right? And if everyone felt the same way he did, then what he was feeling was normal.  
  
"What?" Max asked, impatiently. "Nothing" he told her, smiling innocently. "Just sorting some stuff out in my head."  
  
"Would you like to be alone?" she asked him. Alec flipped her over, and pressed his body hard against hers. "No." he told her quietly, lowering his mouth to hers.  
  
  
  
it hurt. they were hurting him again. If he gave the wrong response, even thought the wrong thing, they hurt him. he couldn't help it. He knew what answer they wanted, was prepared to give it, just to stop the pain, but as soon as they asked him the question, his mind instinctively gave a different answer. The right answer.  
  
He knew it was right, but the pain hurt. And then there was that light. The white was driving him insane. The whole room was white, and the small light that the man held was reflecting off every surface.  
  
"Tell me about him" the man asked again. He's my hero. The thought rose up in him again. A surge of pain went through him, not as bad as the last time, more like a warning. "He's a traitor" he replied, sighing. And there was no pain.  
  
Dix stared at the computer screen in front of him, glancing down occasionally at a map beside the computer. "I think I have something." He told Mole.  
  
"Yeah, right." Mole commented. "Like that idiot would ever give us anything important. Seriously, is it just me, or does anyone else want to hit him every time you see him"  
  
"Just you" Dix muttered. Then he looked up, and shrugged. "Hey, I was just a tech. We were designed to be non-violent, easy to get along with."  
  
"Okay, fine. Well, think of it this way. If you were in charge of barrack allocation, would you give Logan a nice, warm apartment all to himself, or would you make him sleep in barracks, that had just been fumigated. In the last ten minutes."  
  
Dix seemed to consider this seriously for a minute. When he spoke, his voice was expressionless. 'Well, he has Max's ear, right? So that kind of makes him like a lieutenant. policy would dictate giving him the best accommodation available, definitely in a single room. I hear there's room in the sewer."  
  
Mole grinned, then laughed aloud. "Good call. So, what did info did he give us?"  
  
"Not so much what he gave us, but if we combine all of the files Max liberated, and cross reference it to the video that Alec gave us, there may be a trail here. We may be able to tell where that van went.  
  
"Good" Mole lit a cigar. "I like Tim. I miss him. now that was a kid who understood how to piss Logan off." 


End file.
